The title to Dulce et Decorem Est is heavily ironic. I believe that Owen wrote this poem not to encourage pity, but to shock the public who believed war was noble and glorious, and as the poem shows, war is the exact opposite.
The first stanza sets the scene, with the soldiers limping back from the front, this is a horrendous picture expressed through simile and metaphor. The condition the men are in is so horrific that they are compared to old beggars “like old beggars under sacks” Using this is very powerful, as Owen is saying these once young, lively men are now like hags, ugly old women. The men are barely awake from lack of sleep, as it would be hard to, with an endless bombardment of shells and gunfire. They cannot walk straight as their blood-caked feet attempt to negotiate the mud. Owen uses the imagery “Blood-shod” which is dehumanising the soldiers, we think of horses shod, not men. The men marched towards a “Distant rest”, this could mean the soldiers are walking towards an allied camp, or for some, rest of the permanent kind. Saying the men are blind “All went lame, all blind” he may be implying that they were blind to their situation, and following each other like sheep, to their death. “gas shells dropping softly behind”, the soldiers have become numb to the bombs, but he may also be suggesting that the shells are a menace, stealthy and devilish. In line 8 the rhythm slackens, Owen is creating a build up as a particulary dramatic moment approaches.
Stanza two focuses on a man who could not get his gas mask on in time. There is a gas attack “Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!” the officer commands, and the compelling words “An ecstasy of fumbling ” follows. Using the word ecstasy at first seems an unconventional choice, but we realise in medical terms it is ‘a morbid state of nerves in which the mind is occupied with solely one idea. Lines 12-14 consist of an enormously effective metaphor, with succumbing to the poison gas being compared to drowning. “Floundering” is what they are really doing, in the mud, as it is so deep and thick. This is where Owen introduces himself into the poem “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” Owen witnesses his comrade dying in pure agony.
The third stanza is short, but definitely not sweet. Owen meant it this way to get across to the readers that this experience has scarred him. He now looks at it from a new perspective, in the light of his recurring nightmare. Owen is haunted by his
friend dying, “plunges at me” before “my helpless sight”, this is an image he will not forget. He uses the word “drowning” in both stanzas, to give emphasis to that fact that this really distressed him.
Stanza four is an attack on the civilians back at home. He confronts the people who support the war’s continuance, and who are unaware of the reality. If only they could experience Owens “smothering dreams”, then they might see how barbaric war is, and how much their men suffered. He goes on to describe his nightmare in sickening detail. The “you” in line 17 and 21 could be implying people in general, or he could be implying one person in particular, the “My friend” could well be Jessie Pope. Jessie Pope was a children’s’ fictional writer whose patriotic poems epitomised the glorification of war, this is what Owen loathed most. Owen used words which people back at home could relate to, “we flung him in”, flung was a common word, and the effect of this was that civilians could read the poems more easily, and understand them. There is then that “jolt”, there is no stretcher to carry this man, and it is as if the agony is intensified. Owen refers back to Anthem for Doomed Youth in line 23 “Bitter as the cud”, we are back with those “who die as cattle”. He goes on to say “Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues” this has a double meaning. The obvious implication is that the soldier’s mouths are rotting, as disease was rife in the trenches. This also means that the men are innocent, they do not deserve to be put through what they are, although some tongues were anything but innocent in Owens mind. He is again referring back to Jessie Pope. The fourth stanza of this poem is a plea for people to see what war really is, and that it must be stopped. That last two lines of this poem stand out more than any other, this is because they do not rhyme, and it is also a well-known motto in war propaganda “The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” He is now almost begging us not to tell our children that war is glorious, it is the complete opposite. I do not think this is one of Owens best poems, it is very harsh, and no doubt effective, but I believe it to be too negative. The poems in which he looks over the scorn and protest, and finds the pity, are his finest achievements.
Disabled was drafted in October 1918. Owen was criticised by other poets as Disabled was loosely organised, with irregularities of stanza and rhyme. I believe Owen felt a poet was entitled to break the rules as long as he knew them first.
Disabled is focussed at home, not on the battlefield as Dulce et decorum est or Anthem for Doomed Youth are, this poem shows the after effects of war, and that is why I believe it evokes the most sympathy. Disabled slowly makes the reader feel pity for the character in question. The rhyme scheme plays a large part in this poem. The first stanza introduces the main character. He has been reduced to a torso “Legless, sewn short at elbow” and it seems he has no prospects in life. The character is never given a name, which adds to his feelings of worthlessness, and meaningless of life. “waiting for dark” in the first line, exaggerates his loneliness. The word dark, however, is often associated with death. He could be waiting to be put to bed, to go to sleep, but it could also mean he is waiting for death, so he can end his pain. The character is said to “shiver”, the first thought is that he is cold, but Owen could also be saying he is shivering with fear, fear of death or fear of life? He has a “ghastly suit of grey” which makes him consider the nurses are trying to forget him, ghastly may possibly mean ghostly, he may feel as though he is a ghost. Owen then writes “Legless, sewn short at elbow” in very quick parts, this gets the severity across to the reader. It is as though Owen does not want to ponder on this thought, and there is a reference to boys playing in the park, this adds to his comparative disability. As a child he would have played in the park, the reader is made to feel more pity for the man who’s childhood is now gone. Hymns are now mentioned “voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn” this directs the attention to church, churches are places where the dead go to rest. The last line is longer, using lengthy words, this slows down the pace, and adds feeling to the words.
The second stanza emphasizes his disability and what he used to be able to do, and what he could have done with his life. “Town used to swing so gay” this induces even more feelings of pity. Even more reference to his former life is the line “And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim ” Owen makes a lot of references to the opposite sex, and these again put pity on the character. It makes the reader realise his inability to socialise with others. “before he threw away his knees” gives the impression that his war efforts were sacrificial in a way. This is reinforced by lines 23-4, where the wounded soldier fails to remember why he joined up, pointing to a distant sense of duty, and euphoria after the football match. “threw” is exceptionally effective choice of word as you would just throw something in the bin, it is a pointless loss for this man. It could also be said when he threw away his knees, he threw away his life. He dearly wishes he could “feel again how slim girls waists are” but he never will. Owen has used enjambment here, as the line runs on, no breath is taken, and by doing this “slim” is drawn out, as he is yearning for female contact.
The third stanza focuses more on the physical aspect of his disability and his body itself. The first line speaks of his past. Owen is again emphasizing comparatively physical life, to his now completely isolated, inactive life. In the third line he is put across to be a decrepit old man “Now he is old” but he is not, he is a young man. Lines 17, 18, 19 and 20 refer to the battlefield for the first time in the poem. Colour is a word Owen uses to relate to as the man's blood and his life, his essence. Losing blood is referred to in line 18 “Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry ” this is a very powerful image, and perhaps it means that not only has he been wounded, but he has lost everything to the war, his limbs, his friends and his ability to do anything for himself. The next line shows “And leap of purple spurted from his thigh” The use of colour makes the experience sound more heroic and valiant. Purple is also a very solemn, dark, lifeless colour. This line also means that he wants to have sex. The “leap of purple” can be interpreted as the character ejaculating, Owen uses erotic language at this point, but referring to blood instead of seamen. The irony being that here we have the loss of life, as opposed to the creation of life. The sexual imagery plays on the continual point that his injuries, resulting from his enlisting in order to please his girlfriend and other admirers, has resulted in him being abhorrent to women. This induces more sympathy for the man. “Younger than his youth” The reversal is total, the implication is that his face is now older than his youth.
Stanza four focuses on the fact that thousands of eager young men that signed up to the army in search of glory, returned home injured and scarred by the experience. “He thought he’d better join.--he wonders why.” There is a pause, he regrets his decision to join. This line gives the impression that this man joined up, like so many others, solely to impress his friends and women. The lines “his Meg” and because “Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts” This indicates that the soldier was a member of one of the Scottish regiments, this also implies the character also joined up for reasons of vanity. Impressing his girlfriend seems the top of his list. Owen was fighting to stop the war, and war propaganda. Most who signed up had no idea what they were in for, and Owen at least believed people should be told, and not find out the hard way. “a blood-smear down his leg/After the matches, carried shoulder-high ” Again Owen effectively uses irony.
We are already aware that the soldier has lost his arms and legs, yet here we are told that before the war he felt proud to have an injury, and to be carried shoulder high. The concept of reversal is again used, a hero to a cripple, handsome to “queer disease”, colour to dark, warmth to cold. “Smiling they wrote his lie” The sadness of the soldier is heightened, he was clearly under-aged when he enlisted and is therefore still young.
The man now recalls the image of a football match earlier “Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal” He recalls the image of the football match earlier, line 22 implies he was carried from the field shoulder high, possibly at the result of scoring the winning goal. Here having achieved far more, far greater a loss than a “blood smeared leg”, the crowds reception is more hollow. “Do what things the rules consider wise” the soldier’s passivity is complete. This fine young athlete has been reduced to a state of utter dependency on others. The stanza has him waiting for others to do things for him, he “spends a few sick years”, “takes whatever pity” others choose to offer him. He is passed over by the women’s intentions, as he moans the cold and hopes that someone will put him to bed. “Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes/ passed from him to the strong men who were whole” Repeating again the loss of this soldier, this time in his attractiveness to the opposite sex. “whole” implying that he is incomplete, less than a man. Ironically he is now dependant on young women to put him to bed, in contrast with his pre-war manhood when he could expect to take women to bed. The last line is very powerful, it also has a double meaning like so much of Owens poetry. “Why don’t they come?” Is he waiting for them to take him to bed, or does he want to die?
After reading this poem the reader is left with the tale of a destroyed life. A boy with so many prospects transformed the a decrepit cripple who is completely dependant on others, and cut off from any form of social activity. The poem really evokes feelings of pity and sympathy, not only for this man but for all soldiers. I feel that Owen has succeeded his aim in writing this poem.
The title “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is right, these were young men, some very young, and most were doomed. Lines 1-8 of Anthem for Doomed Youth contains a catalogue of the sounds of war “monstrous anger of the guns” and “stuttering rifles”, the weapons on destruction linked, ironically, to religious imagery, until in line 8 we switch from the fighting front to Britain’s “sad shires” where loved ones mourn. The tone now moves from bitter passion to regretful contemplation, the mood is sombre and the pace slower. “save the choirs”, Owen is criticising the enemy generals. He thinks it would be mocking the dead soldiers to give them a funeral “No mockeries for them now” because of the way they died “as cattle”. The simile at the start “for these who die as cattle” jolts us with the image of the slaughterhouse and the idea of men being treated as animals. Onomatopoeia, alliteration and personification come together in line 3 in a brilliant sound image “Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle”. The juxtaposition of “choirs” and “wailing shells” is a startling metaphor, Gods world and the Devils both as one. In this octet the devilish clamour of trench warfare is set against the subdued atmosphere of the church. These religious images “passing bells”, “orisons”, “voice of mourning”, symbolise the sanctity of life, and death, while suggesting also the inadequacy, the pointlessness, even meaningless, of organised religion measured against such a catastrophe as war. Despite Owens orthodox Christian upbringing, how his faith actually developed during the last years is far from clear, and it is hard not to think that he was remembering in this poem the members of the clergy, and they were many, who were preaching not the gospel of peace, but of war.
Religious images and allusions dominate the second stanza. Owen is telling us to forget about altar boys and candle bearers, look in their eyes to learn the truth of war. In line 12 “pallor”-“pall” is almost an example of Owens pararhyme, a poetic device that creates an impression of solemnity. “Flowers” line 13, suggests beauty but also sadness, again a word that runs counter to the chaos of the first stanza. In the last line dusk is falling, and Owen speaks of finality. The dusk is slow, but that is how time passes for those who mourn. The first line is a strong statement or question “What passing bells for these who die as cattle” the last line is his answer “And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds”.
Wilfred Owen is trying to tell the public that war is not a holy way to die, that men are slaughtered, there is no glory involved. This poem gets across the madness of war, and that it must not be continued.
Owen expresses feelings of bitter hatred for the war, and he lets those feelings out in Dulce et Decorem est. He is angry that war is allowed to be continued, that the public are lied to, and the conditions the soldiers have to cope with. He was in the war himself, he knew what he was talking about. Owen has a very strong use of imagery, which I think helps get across his message. Although sometimes I feel he can be a bit too bitter, and lose the plot slightly, his poetry is extremely effective. He is asking his reader just to take some time to think about the war, ignore the propaganda and see what is really happening. All of this put together conveys the pity of war, by using graphic imagery, metaphors and similes, and often use of onomatopoeia.