Ducle Est Decorum Est

Dulce et Decorum Est

In this essay I am going to look at the horror, of life and death, Wilfred Owen creates in his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est,’ in the trench welfare of World War I with his use of language. He uses complex language, which creates the image of the horror of the gas attack. Owen is trying to tell you throughout his poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, that world wars are dire and they shouldn’t happen. I think war is wrong because it robs many young people of their lives and the conditions that people have to live in are terrible. You would also have to live with the fact that you had killed someone; this would be a ghastly thing to have to live with. Wilfred Owen uses complex language throughout his poem that gives us, the reader, images of what it really would be like for a soldier during the war. He uses imagery and metaphors, to do this. Firstly in this essay I will be looking at the imagery, he used throughout to create the atmosphere of war. Secondly I will look at the metaphors that personal stuck out to me. Thirdly I will look at Owen’s word choice he used to describe the horror of the gas attack during World War I. I will show two examples for each.

In Wilfred Owen’s use of ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,’ he gives me the image of a young soldier who is physically wrecked. He cleverly uses paradox in this quote, comparing a young man, who is meant to be fit and healthy, to an old beggar. This gives me the image of him not being able to stand, very well, and also wearing scabby clothes and looks a little scruffy. The young soldiers have been physically robbed of their youth. I think with the soldiers being so young they didn’t really know what they were letting themselves into and certainly didn’t expect it to be as draining as it is. The men possibly would have been lying on the ground unable to move much, like old beggars.

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The second imagery I am going to look at is Owen’s use of ‘Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots.’ In Wilfred Owen’s use of ‘Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots’ it gives me the impression that the men aren’t troubled to hear the hoots. This would be their tiredness that would have caused this. This soldiers would have been so tired it feels like they are drunk and when you are drunk you aren’t really aware of everything that it going on around you. The men wouldn’t be physically deaf to the hoots but because they are so tired they would therefore be thinking of sleeping. This would possibly make them feel as if they were dreaming and therefore they would not be in much of a hurry, when they hear the hoots. They are blocking out the hoots, of the shells. Another reason they may be deaf to the hoots it because the soldiers have become so used to them that they have become immune to hearing them.

In this paragraph I am now going to look at metaphors that really worked for me. The first metaphor I will look at is ‘Men marched asleep.’ In the use of ‘Men marched asleep’ I think Wilfred Owen is trying to express the tiredness of these young soldiers. This is a metaphor because the men are literally sleeping; they just feel like they are. To these men it will feel like they are sleep walking. I think this is effective because it gives you all sorts of images, of both the funny and the bad side. It gives you, the reader, the impression of the men stumbling over their own feet as they walked. It also gives me the notion that the men feel like they are dreaming and because they are so tired, they cannot stop thinking about sleep and therefore their brains are being fouled and think that they are asleep. The war has taken so much out of these young men that they cannot give much more.

The second metaphor I am now going to look at, in detail, is ‘Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.’ This is a metaphor because shells do not have feelings and therefore cannot be disappointed, unlike a human. I think he is trying to imply that the shells are dropping with no effect. They are likely to be bombs which have missed. Saying that they are disappointed, because they have missed, is terrible considering it would have killed someone if it had hit. This gives the idea that the bombs are alive and have feelings, when they aren’t really. This is not only a good metaphor but also personification. It is personification because Owen puts across, to the readers, that bombs are alive.

Wilfred Owen also uses many effective words and phrases throughout his poem, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’ I am now going to analysis two words or phrases he has used which I think are effective.

‘And floundering like a man in fire or lime’

I think that floundering is effective in the way he has used it. In his use of ‘floundering’ I get images of someone flapping around on the floor, almost like a fish that has been dropped on the floor. I think he is trying to get across the idea that the men are all rushing around. Also due to their tiredness there is a possibility that the young men are stumbling and falling around. They may also be sleep walking, if this is the case banging into something or tripping over something would cause great shock to the person and they may start flapping/floundering around.

Lastly I will look at Owen’s use of ‘Helpless sight.’ In his use of ‘Helpless sight’ I sense he is saying their sight is helpless due to the men’s gas masks. The gas masks would make it hard to see properly, especially through the green glass. Also the men’s sight would be affected with the dark, thick smoke and the ash from the bombings. The men being so tired may be finding it hard to keep their eyes open and for that reason cannot see everything clearly. Wilfred Owen is on the whole saying they may as well be blind.

After analysising ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ I have come to the conclusion that Wilfred Owen wants to get across one thing. War is wrong. I believe he takes on the task to tell the reader that we shouldn’t go and fight. It can take everything out of you, and robs you of your youth. Even if you do survive the horrendous times you would still have to live with the fact that you had killed another person. I know I couldn’t live with myself knowing I had killed another person’s son or daughter. People think when they go into the war they are doing the best for their country but really it does no good for themselves or the country. I consider Wilfred Owen to have been very successful in getting across war is wrong. If he hasn’t got it across to anyone else, well at least he has got it across to me.

By Amy Robertson