He describes the rites and ceremonies that you associate with funerals as “mockeries”, implying that they seem very false from where he is, on the battlefield. He sees the funerals and traditions that are carried out at home as insignificant, which is why he refers to them in this way.
Throughout this poem, Owen describes ceremonies that would be performed at home and then gives their corresponding equivalent on the battlefield. One of the most shocking comparisons he makes is between the choirs heard in church and the “shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells”. The other sound that Owen uses as a contrast is that of “bugles calling for them from sad shires”. A bugle is used to commemorate the death of a solider. They play the ‘Last Post’ which is a very poignant symbol of the end of a life.
The concluding line of the poem has a much slower pace than the rest, whilst sticking to the typical sonnet rhyme scheme. This “slow” mood puts the emphasis on it and makes Owen’s message more significant. The action, which this line describes, is that of the “drawing-down of blinds”. This is usually performed at the end of the day, shutting the house up for the night. The other occasion for doing this was a death in the household. It signifies the end of the day for those on the battlefield too. People dying are often likened to the end of the day, it is an image that we are familiar with, but this does not reduce its impact.
Of all Owen’s poems, ‘Spring Offensive’, is somewhat different in that rather than focussing directly on the futility and horror of war, he looks at nature in war. The title suggests that it is set in the springtime and provides a background for the first stanza of the poem. He opens by setting a very tranquil and peaceful scene. The soldiers had been marching and were now “Halted”. A hill is shading them from the spring sun. The soldiers were “fed”, had put down their heavy “pack-loads” and “were at ease”. Because they were tired from the marching and to pass the time, the soldiers “Carelessly slept”. In every respect, the picture Owen paints is one of quiet and peacefulness in an idyllic setting. Despite this ideal scene around them, “many there stood still”. While some could sleep and try not to think about it, many there cannot. They face the “stark blank sky” which is a very unforgiving picture. This sky is beyond the “ridge” and all the soldiers know that this is where they are heading when they ‘go over the top’. Because the sky is described as “stark” and “blank”, we get a picture of what it was like on the battlefield. The fact that this area of sky can be so widely different from the peaceful picture of spring that is this side of the “ridge” shows the reader the great contrast in the atmosphere around the soldiers. Owen only hints at what is going through their minds. Is this it? Wondering about their relations at home. Are they going to be injured, die? He describes it as:
“Knowing their feet had come to the end of the world.”
This is the stark realisation that anything beyond this point is dangerous. They may well die and never see this side of the “ridge” again.
Owen then goes on to describe in a very sensual way the “May breeze” and the “murmurous” sound of the wasps and midges. This is not the sound you would expect the soldiers to be able to hear. They aren’t the sounds of war, but very peaceful, gentle. He describes how the summer atmosphere “oozed into their veins”, but at the back of their minds, “sharp on their souls” is the “imminent” reality of likely death.
The second stanza is a very short one, when compared to the first. The poet uses the repetition of the word “hour” to emphasise the time passing slowly. The men “ponder” the very idyllic setting they have passed through. The focus of this stanza is very much on the nature of the scene around them. The poet uses alliteration to emphasise how “buttercups Had blessed with gold their slow boots”. This idea that the pollen was all over their boots is very incongruous. The brambles are described as “small”, being insignificant to what they are about to face. They “clung to them like sorrowing arms”, suggesting that they don’t want them to go, just like the relatives at home.
The third stanza provides us with a sudden contrast. It has become very “cold”, having changed from the warm spring day. Owen describes how the soldiers are very tense and apprehensive:
“At which each body and its soul begird
And tighten them for battle”.
We would expect that when troops go over the top, there is this glorious ceremony because it is in this way that most films portray it. But the reality for these soldiers is that there is “No alarms Of bugles, no high flags, no clamorous haste,“. This is not a big event and there is nothing to mark it. It is the use of a simile: “The sun, like a friend with whom their love is done”, that signifies the end of the calmness. The sun has shown that its “love is done” and the soldiers have no use for it anymore.
In the fourth stanza, the soldiers finally go over the top. They “raced” over, because there was no turning back. Owen uses a single word “Exposed.”; as a very short sentence to place the emphasis on the fact that there was no cover and therefore nowhere else to go. The picture Owen paints of the battle is one of hectic confusion. “The whole sky burned” with the guns and shells of the enemy. This is a great contrast to the very tranquil pictures the poem opened with. Those who die, “Some say God caught them even before they fell”. They felt that death was inevitable, they could be considered dead, even before they actually were. God saved these men. They no longer had to go through the hell of war. This is a striking image and it shocked me. There are very few instances in which people would be relieved to die in order to escape the position that they are in, but I think that this is one such case, showing us the true extent of the horror of war. Owen carries on to liken going into battle to entering “hell”, emphasising his previous point. Those men who survived “crawl[ed] slowly back”. This shows the dreadful state that they are in. Their return is not victorious. There is no bravery or congratulations exchanged in the “cool peaceful air”. The horror of what they have just been through was so intense that “speak not they of comrades that went under”.
The point of this poem is to provide a stark contrast between the two scenes presented. One of the idyllic, peaceful spring day, resting in the “May breeze”, the other of the chaos and confusion of war and the enemy fighting “with fury against them”.
As with many of Owen’s poems, he has used the title, ’Dulce et Decorum est’ to convey the central theme of the poem. In this case, it is a Latin phrase meaning ‘It is sweet and fitting’. This poem is replete with adjectives and imagery and it is these that contribute to the effect this poem has on us. In the opening line, Owen describes the soldiers as being “bent double like old beggars”. This is a very graphic simile, helped by the fact that it is also an unusual way to describe soldiers. The typical propaganda portrait of the soldiers is that of young lads in the prime of their life, very unlike Owen’s description. They aren’t proud or brave but, “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. These men are so far from being fighting fit, that they can’t even stand upright. By comparing the men to hags, the impact is enhanced as hags are considered to be old women, almost witches, very unlike soldiers. This makes the contrast even greater. Not only are the physical states of the soldiers bad, they “cursed” along their way, showing that they are not pleased to be there fighting for their country. The use of the adjective “haunting” has several connotations; one is a ghostly image, the other is that these images keep coming back and tormenting the soldiers. Owen also makes use of alliteration: “Men marched asleep”. This short sentence suggests their lack of energy and that they were not full of the vigour of life, as often suggested. Conditions were so bad that “Many had lost their boots” in the mud. The soldiers also “limped on, blood-shot” without being able to see where they are going and “drunk with fatigue”. The second half of this stanza tells us a lot about Owen’s perception of the conditions both of the soldiers and those that they faced. The graphic similes contribute greatly to the overall impact of the poem and emphasise the poets’ message.
Owen opens the second stanza with dialogue: “Gas! Gas! Quick boys!”. The effect of this cry is immediate. The suddenness of the gas attack shows us how aware the soldiers had to be at all times and the real danger they were in. The gas used in these attacks was mustard yellow and would eat people up from the inside if inhaled. This is the kind of danger that the soldiers faced on a day-to-day basis and Owen is trying to show this. The gas has such an instantaneous effect that the man who couldn’t get his gas mask on in time began “stumbling, And flound’ring”. The other men just had to stand and watch because there is nothing that they could do to help him. The shocking truth; “I saw him drowning” portrays a picture of horror. It is this graphic detail that causes the events of the poem to stand out in the reader’s mind and enables Owen to put his message across so effectively.
The next stanza is short, being only two lines long, but it is powerful. Owen describes himself as being in “my helpless sight”. He uses onomatopoeic words such as “guttering” and “choking” to describe the dying man. The repetition of “drowning” puts the emphasis on this. The poet then changes his style and talks directly to Jessie Pope. He describes how he sees this incident over and over again in “some smothering dreams” and suggests that if Pope “too “ could see what he has seen and experienced walking behind the “wagon that we flung him in”, then her perception of war would be more true to reality. The use of “flung” as a descriptive word is very effective, as at this point, he is still alive. The men have to “watch” this man suffer, “writhing” with “blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs”. The graphic detail in which this boy’s fate is re-told creates a shocking and startling image in the reader’s mind. This almost gory detail is necessary to emphasise Owen’s point and express his true feelings towards war.
After reverting to his narrative form in the middle of the last stanza, Owen again addresses Jessie Pope, this time as “My friend”. He directs the poem at her and the last four lines are riddled with irony. He says that she is telling “The old Lie” to “children ardent for some desperate glory”. The “children” he refers to are the young men who sign up for the army. Many were desperate for glory and the picture Pope and others like her painted, encouraged them to join. The Latin title is repeated in the concluding two lines of the poem:
“Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori”
This means ‘It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’. Owen names this “the old Lie”, showing that he disagrees with this representation of war. The use of the Latin, really makes this, the punch line of his poem, stand out. Because the message is presented in an unusual format, the reader is encouraged to think about its meaning. Owen is saying that it isn’t sweet and fitting to die for one’s country, it is painful, torturous, tormenting, dangerous and futile.
Although the three poems that I have studied are all widely different, the representation of war is similar throughout. In its individual way, each poem describes the horror and futility of war. Owen tries to portray the truth about war, and warn of the reality, as in the quote in the title of this essay. It is in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ that Owen most prominently sends out a warning and reveals his true feelings about war. This poem has an actual purpose, rather than sending out a general message. Owen uses language in a graphical manner and uses the art of shocking his audience to remind them of the truth of what they have read. He describes events and feelings in such detail, as to leave the reader no doubt that Owen really believed in the tragic and disgusting conditions that the soldiers faced. Joining the army wasn’t glorious, brave and a “Game” as frequently portrayed at home. Owen uses his poems to convey the horror, the frequent deaths and the treacherous conditions daily faced by those who went off to fight.
