dulce et decorum est

Critical Evaluation of ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’

Marcus White

‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is a war poem written by Wilfred Owen. Owen uses techniques to show strong images to show the physical state of the soldiers in the First World War. Owen wrote the poem during his military service. He also wrote it in the front line in the trenches. Owen is a famous poet and died in battle.

The soldiers are in the trenches in the front line in France. The men are going back to camp because they are so exhausted they can’t even hear the bombs going off behind them. Then there is a gas attack from the enemy. They were putting on there helmets but one does not make it in time and dies from the gas and Wilfred Owen watched him die through the misty panes on his helmet. Owen said that he could not sleep without seeing the soldier die in his dreams. Owen Shares with the reader his thoughts. He tells that if you had some nightmares the reader could walk behind the wagon where the soldiers including Owen threw the soldier that died in the gas attack into the wagon. Owen is very angry about the old lie because he thinks it is wrong for children to die for their country propaganda is the main theme because everybody was forced to go into the army by false advertisement by saying it is good and right to fight for your country.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Wilfred Owen tells the reader through very effective techniques. One technique is word choice. ‘I saw him drowning’ has a good word choice because the soldier is not actually drowning he is suffocating from the gas from the enemy. Owen uses these words to tell the reader the way the soldier is stumbling about all over the place trying to get his helmet on. Another effective word choice is ‘flung.’ When the soldiers died in battle the survivors just threw them into a wagon. Wilfred Owen uses ‘flung’ because ‘flung’ gets to the reader a lot better than the word threw. It is very horrific how the soldiers through the dead into a wagon and don’t care. That is why Wilfred Owen uses this very effective word choice. The poet also uses a number of onomatopoeic words. One of those words is ‘gargling.’ This is very effective because it tells the reader that it was a very horrific sight to see.

Owen uses a lot of very effective techniques for the imagery of the poem. These techniques are similes and metaphors. One very useful and effective metaphor is ‘Drunk with fatigue.’ This is an effective simile because it shows how tired and exhausted the soldiers are. It shows how horrible, horrific and tiring going to war and fighting for your country is. This metaphor has been used by the poet to make the reader think about the horrifying things and the job is. A very effective simile is ‘coughing like hags.’ This simile shows that the soldiers are very ill. This is a very horrific sight. This is a very interesting simile as it tells in the best way to show the sight and state of the soldiers returning from the front line to camp. The poet also uses descriptions that say a non-living object is something that can only be described for something that is living. This technique is called transferred epithet. An example of a transferred epithet from the poem is ‘clumsy helmets.’ This example shows that the soldiers are very clumsy putting on their helmets because they are rushing because of the bombs being dropped.

Alliteration is another poetic technique that Wilfred Owen uses to show the horrors of the war. An example of alliteration is;

‘And watch the white eyes writhing in his face.’

This shows the soldiers he saw die how his face looks like. This alliteration is very effective.

Overall this poem is a fantastic example to study for the sights of the First World War. In conclusion the poet, Wilfred Owen is absolutely angry with what happened to all the children that died in the First World War because of the propaganda from the government forcing them into the army to fight for their country. He does not like the way they were being forced into the army. That is what is meant by;

‘The Old Lie Dulce et decorum Est

Pro Patria Mori.’

The old lie is Latin for it is sweet and right to die for your country.