many words of action “Flash’d all their sabres bare,” “Flash’d as they turn’d in air,” “Sabring
the gunners there” He uses noble sounding metaphors like “the valley of Death,” and “the mouth
of Hell” to describe the fate that awaits these men. He doesn’t convey the gory reality of the
battle, instead using personification. Tennyson creates a feeling of exhilaration with his use of
language devices, such as repetition “Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them.” The repetition of this phrase makes the reader feel claustrophobic and
can feel how the “six hundred” must have felt and can see the battle as the soldiers saw it.
charging into the valley. He uses repetition many times throughout the poem. Another technique
he uses is alliteration “Stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell.” He emphasizes
the unquestioning obedience of the soldiers in the face of death. “Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die.” In the final stanza Tennyson creates a
sense of the immortality of the soldier’s bravery with a rhetorical question “When can their glory
fade?” indicating that they will always be heroes. The repetition of “the six hundred” at the end
of each stanza reminds the reader of the enormous loss of life, but at the end of the poem they
have become the “Noble six hundred” and are celebrated as heroes. This poem would appeal
to a young person, and perhaps encourage them to join the army. The way in which the soldiers
carry on towards the guns when they know of the danger seems courageous and daring. This is
emphasized by phrases such as “Boldly they rode.” Verse four is full of excitement and bravery.
Colour is used when the soldiers “Flashed all their sabres bare.” This gives the impression of a
very well equipped, smart, clean and impressive army- a contrast to the soldier’s in Owen’s
poem. The verse tries to convey the power and might of the Light Brigade. The soldiers
“Flashed as they turned in air” This suggests that they were so powerful and energetic that they
were almost flying. Tennyson does not show the pain of the people killed, the blood, the anguish
and agony both the enemy and the Light Brigade died in. A heroic, gallant image is created as
the Light Brigade “Plunged in the battery-smoke” This is more reminiscent of a film than of real
life conflict.
Wilfred Owen in his poem is asking us to question all the certainties that Tennyson is
celebrating. The theme of “Dulce et Decorum Est” is that war and dying for one’s country are
not at all glorious. This message is echoed throughout the poem from the first stanza to the last
line. In the opening stanza you get a very different image of the soldiers from what you might
expect from the title. You think of soldiers as smart, proud, marching and fighting, but Owen’s
picture is based on his personal experience of the battlefield. There is nothing romantic about
Owen’s soldiers. Using imagery and similes, he portrays them as worn out, old and down
trodden. “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags” We
also see that the soldier’s attitudes in this poem are very different to the honorary ones of “The
Light Brigade” by the way we are told they “cursed through the sludge.” These men are the
opposite of Tennyson’s “Noble six hundred.” Owen’s picture is not glorious at all and the very
first line would shock people at home who imagined the gallant men they said goodbye to. He
catches the mood of the scene very well. He uses the word “we” when he’s talking about the
men’s actions so we are reminded that he was there, he saw all these things and that this is all
very real. The second stanza is very active and frantic in comparison. “GAS! Gas! Quick,
boys!” By using direct speech he makes the poem sound as realistic as possible. Both writers
use this technique, in Tennyson’s poem “Forward the Light Brigade!” is used. The direct speech
not only makes the poems more exciting, as the two lines express action but it also adds realism.
By using vivid imagery Owen gives the reader the feelings of horror and disgust that he wants
them to feel at the sight of the soldier poisoned by gas, too late in getting his helmet on. The
words he uses to describe the anonymous soldiers death are present participles, making us feel
like he is dying in front of our eyes. “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” The word
“guttering” is used to describe a candle going out, and makes us think of the soldier’s life
flickering away. In Owen’s poem death is vividly presented as the opposite of glorious. “..the
white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin.” It is as if he is filling
the poem with as many ugly images as he can. “…the blood come gargling from the froth-
corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer” During the man’s death it is as if you are reliving his torture.
Another way in which he makes the poem more realistic is by using the senses to aid his
descriptions. He talks about “watching the white eyes writhing,” “If you could hear” and then the
awful taste of the blood “bitter as the cud.” This descriptive use of the senses makes the poem
shockingly realistic and also very vivid.
Owen gives us a detailed picture of the war- he talks in the first person “I saw him drowning”
and describes one dying man, in contrast to Tennyson’s rather impersonal “six hundred.” He
wants us to imagine that we are actually there on the battlefield so we get an idea of what it was
like. This poem is the closest we will get to experiencing such atrocities and if we had, Owen
tells us in the final lines then we would not try to glorify the war anymore.
The pace at which the poems are read is also very important. “Dulce et Decorum est” is
designed to be read very slowly, apart from the middle verse. This is because the middle verse
contains action and adrenaline. Because they are slow the words are thought about and
understood more deeply, and it becomes more meaningful and shocking. He uses words like
“trudge” to add to the slowness of the first stanza. Also, the slow pace reflects the speed and
the mood of the tired men in the poem. In the first and last verses, this slow speed is achieved
by the long words, the long lines and the frequent punctuation. The speed in the second verse is
increased by the short words and the reduced number of commas. In “The Charge of the Light
Brigade” however, the speed of the poem is much faster. They rhythm of the lines is important in
doing this. There are two short syllables followed by one long one. This emulates the gallop of
horses
In my opinion “Dulce et Decorum Est” is the more powerful poem of the two because it is
truthful and the shock tactics work very well in portraying to the reader the horrifying reality of
war.