18th May 2012 Friday
Dulce et Decorum Est
In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est Owen conveys mental and the physical horror of the war by showing us and telling us the horror’s that he had to go through during the war. Also as he writes the poem he tells us the nightmares that he faces and how they are so terrific. “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning”. This shows us the reader that all the thoughts that are going through his mind and killing him at the same time, but also the helplessness in the dream is just like in the war with having no control. The drowning is significant because the soldiers are drowning in gas and in reality people drown in water which could also show that Owen could be drowning as he watches these helplessness bodies drown away. Owen also tells us how the men are in pain and mentally and physically unable to walk and carry on in the war, “All went lame; all blind, Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped fine-nines that dropped behind.” This shows us that the men could no longer walk and have to suffer even when they are tired, but also so that the soldiers are able to try and get rid of the thoughts and suffering that they go through but also the ones they see suffer they drink but no of it ever works. Owen conveys the mental and physical horror of the war by using techniques such as personification where Owen tells us about the “haunting flares” which shows us that haunting can be also joined with hags and cursing. Imagery, “Bent double, like old beggars”, this shows us that the soldiers are all crocked and can’t stand up straight because of the effect of the war, but also this is a use of simile because it shows us that they are depressed like beggars and all their clothes are worn out.
