Dulce Et decorum est - review

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Dulce Et Decorum est – Wilfred Owen

Dulce Et decorum est is a war poem written by a man named Wilfred Owen. This poem was written about a soldier who dies in a hideous fashion. He dies walking back to his campsite, tired, miserable and bloodied from fighting for his country. In his state of weariness he is hit with a gas bomb. He doesn’t fit his gas mask on in time and chokes to death. This poem was written with horrifying description of how the soldier died to make the readers think that it is not fit and sweet to die for ones country. Hence the old lie ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria moré’

In this poem Owen focuses on the theme of death. He uses ‘realistic imagery’ in many ways; he wants to make the poem seem so real that the readers can actually imagine walking alongside the troops.

In the first stanza of the poem we are told much about the men’s appalling conditions. Owen introduces the soldiers as Bent beggars’ and knock kneed’ this tells us that the soldiers are extremely tired, and are hunched. This description of the men shows us how physically ill they have now become. The simile curse like hags’ is telling us how the soldiers cursed God for putting them through the hellish time that the have endured.

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By using the term ‘sludge’  Owen is describing to the readers what the ground has been turned into as it has been continuously hit with shells, and has been rained and trampled on. The phrase

‘Limped on blood-shod’

Shows, that despite the fact that the men’s feet are bloodied, they would still continue to struggle on with determination to get back to camp were they can then rest their helpless bodies. This line backs up the image of pain that Owen is trying to show us.

By use of punctuation Owen uses a slow rhythm to ...

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