Lucy Judd
Commentary- Dulce Et Decorum Est
The poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written by Wilfred Owen in response to the patriotic poem, ‘Who’s for the Game’ by Jessie Pope, to convey the reality of trench warfare in World War One. The title is certainly sarcastic, as it is Latin for ‘It is sweet and right to die for your country’, which is reinforced by the sombre tone of the poem is there throughout, but it also becomes aggressive and even bitter in places.
The first stanza begins with two similes, which immediately bring the readers attention to the horrors of war, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,/Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge” This begins with ‘Bent double’, which suggests that they are in great pain, and the line continues with the simile of ‘like old beggars under sacks’. This is ironic because the men are not ‘old’, and the use of ‘beggars’ implies that they have nothing. Also, the use of ‘sacks’ indicates the load that the solders are having to carry from the war, both the literal ‘load’ and the psychological ‘load’. The lines go on to highlight the physical effects of war with, ‘Knock-kneed’, which implies that the men have no strength and have become feeble and weak. Furthermore, the line continues with the simile of ‘coughing like hags’, which suggests to the reader the poor health the men were in. The second line finishes with, ‘we cursed through the sludge’. Here, Owen uses the ‘we’, which indicates to the comradeship which the men have, and then the use of the hard ‘c’ sound in ‘cursed’ implies that they have a united hatred of the war, or at least their current situation. Owen also uses the word, ‘sludge’, which suggests that the conditions the men are in are unacceptable. The stanza goes on to explain the condition of which the mean are in, through the use of alliteration, such as “Men marched asleep”, which implies that the men are really tired, but their determination is admirable as they continue to march.
