Analysis of 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen

Authors Avatar by rangers151996 (student)

Dulce Et Decorum Est         Colin Mcknight

   The poem ‘’Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen describes a gas attack on a group of soldiers returning back to base during World War one. One man fails to fit his gas mask on time and suffers a slow and painful death due to the horrific effects of mustard gas. This essay will show how poetic techniques are used to make the description vivid and consider what effect this has on the reader.

  Owen is writing from personal experience as he fought in the war from 1915-1918. In the war, Owen suffered from shell shock. He also spent a period of time in a military hospital, where he met poet Siegfried Sassoon. It was Sassoon that encouraged Owen in his poetry. While at the war, Owen wrote until his unexpected and tragic death in 1918-one week before the war ended. Owen viewed the war as cruel and a waste of time and his poetry is full of bitterness. In the poem “Dule Et Decorum Est”,Owen expresses his feelings about the war. The theme in “Dule Et Decorum Est” are idealism vs reality of war, modern warfare and suffering all of which are detailed in this poem. ‘’Dulce Et Decorum Est’’ is latin for ‘’It is sweet and right to die for ones country’’, an idea that Owen is strongly denying throughout the poem.

  The poem opens with a vivid description of trench life and the conditions faced by soldiers. In the opening line of the poem readers are introduced to the solders and the way in which the war has affected them. The stanza begins with the simile:

                  ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks’

Owen is describing the soldiers as so tired that they cannot even stand up straight. It also shows that the uniforms are now tattered and hanging off them. This idea is continued as Owen compares them to ‘hags’ creating the horrifying image that the soldiers are old and ill, resembling an old woman rather than the brave heroic solider many people ignorant of the reality of the war would expect. Owen continues to us imagery such as:

Join now!

                  ‘Men marched asleep’ and drunk with fatigue’      

The metaphors above really emphasise the sheer exhaustion the men faced and the word ‘drunk’ suggests that the soldiers are so tired that they are losing their balance and falling all over the place. The slow rhythm of this stanza adds to the idea of the soldier’s exhaustion. This would be very dangerous at the war front because they would not be one hundred percent focused. Owen’s use of imagery creates a vivid picture of the suffering the men endured, making ...

This is a preview of the whole essay