Dulce et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen

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Dulce et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est has become one of the greatest and well-known war poems of the 20th century. The poem highlights the bogus patriotism of the stay- at- home war enthusiasts. Life wasn’t easy for soldiers in the war as Wilfred Owen expresses strongly in this poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. Wilfred Owen died at the age of 25 and was killed seven days before the end of World War 1. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ reveals the truth behind war, the grief and suffering caused. Wilfred Owen wanted to dismiss the idea of romance as a motivation to fight in the war. Young men believed that fighting in the war would make them heroes when they returned home.

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“Dulce et Decorum Est” is about the soldiers on their way back from the front line and the sudden panic caused when the soldiers are hit unexpectedly with a gas attack. Wilfred Owen begins with a simile, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. This shows the load the men had to carry with them and the exhaustion of the men. “…Under sacks” gives us the picture of the heaviness and feeling of the soldiers’ uniforms. To show the physical condition he uses words like “coughing” and “cursed”. “We cursed through sludge” shows the deepness of the mud, which weakens ...

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