Dulce Et Decorum Est.

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Dulce Et Decorum Est.

Wilfred Owen, who was a soldier in the First World War, wrote this poem. He therefore gives a quite emotional account of what it was like to be there, as he has had first- hand experience. The title of the poem means 'it is sweet and fitting to die for your country.' Just before this is stated at the end of the poem, Wilfred Owen chooses to write' The Old Lie.' This tells us he does not believe this statement to be true. Calling the poem by this name is very ironic, as the poem is filled with Wilfred Owens accounts of what he experienced and what is the truth about the war, and so Wilfred Owen is saying how can all of this suffering be sweet and proper?
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In the first line, the soldiers are compared in a simile to 'old beggars'. This implies that they look scruffy; this is not how the press would have been portraying them at the time so Owen is already beginning to break down the public misconception. The second line continues this them as it compares the soldiers to hags, which are very like beggars. It tells you that the soldiers are knock kneed and coughing, which implies a very low morale and leads to poor health due to bad conditions.

The 'distant rest' in line four could mean ...

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