Wilfred Owen ‘Dulce et Decorum est’

The numbers Dulce et Decorum est is a metrical composition which shows us the horrors of struggle. It shows us how innocent lives are being wasted on a war. The verse ascertains us most how the poet feels well-nigh war.The first stanza tells us rough the condition of the soldiers. It shows us that the soldiers are sick, tired and are not sure of themselves. It as well as tells us that the soldiers were in bad condition. They did not care nearly the shells that dropped behind them. In the first bank note the soldiers are compared in a simile to old beggars. This implies that they look shabby, which is not the image of soldiers in satiny shiny uniforms, which would be in keeping with the glorious image of war. The line has a slow pace with no sound described, which is to a fault a contrast to the image of war, as people at home major power expect the soldiers to be marching along at a alive(p) pace. The second line continues this them as it compares the soldiers to hags , which are very analogous beggars. It tells you that the soldiers are knock kneeded and coughing, which implies a very low morale.In the second stanza, the poet has scripted close to a flub attack that he has witnessed. This stanza tells us about the confusion and panic, which arises when the soldiers lives are in immediate danger. The pace of this verse line is a lot quicker in order to demonstrate this, and also provides a contrast to the previous verses as it is scripted in the present tighten to entertain it wait more(prenominal) real, whereas the first verse is compose in the perfect tense, which makes it seem more distant. During the gas attack, soldiers many soldiers managed to get their gas helmets on time. But one soldier could not make it. He was cry and stumbling as the gas overcare him. The poet has seen the unfortunate man die a slow and painful death.The third stanza is short-circuit. It expresses the poets fears and nightmares he has beca put on of the dying man compass his hand out for help. But Wilfred Owen was helpless. The poet tells us that the dying man was guttering, throttling and drowning as the gas make its way through his lungs.The fourth stanza is verbalise us a little bit about what the soldiers did to the dead soldier. They flung him in the back of a wagon. His condition was still bad. There was blood culmination out from his mouth and his face was hanging in bad shape. The poet whence tells his friend that it is not right to tell keen and young person soldiers eager for renown that It is a good and noble thing to die for your country as it is a lie. Moreover, the last verse is a plea to the subscriber to renounce their judgment that dying for your country is sew and honourable. Wilfred Owen is reflection that if the reader was there, and saw this man dying in the back of the wagon then they would not tell the old Lie. Owen, by his graphic description of the mans death, is intending to shock the reader into accept they arouse been tricked by the Old Lie i.e. it is good to die for your country, and make them think more deeply about the values of war and how they crowd out become heroes.Wilfred Owen is creating a horrific picture of how bad war is. He has done this by making use of similes.In the first stanza, Owen describes the debilitation of the soldiers by sayingBent double, desire old beggars under sacksIn this quote we can see that Owen is verbalize us that the soldiers are similarly tired to walk properly and that they can hardly stand up. He re-enforces his words by sayingwork force marched asleep. many a(prenominal) had lost their bootsThis is large-minded us a vivid image of how tired and ill the soldiers are from war. To add to the atmosphere of depression, the haunting flares imply that the scene is taking base at night, as flares are not visible in the daytime. The point that the flares are haunting adds to the misery of the soldiers, as it could be that they are remembering then(prenominal) horrific incidents involving the flares that haunt them. The distant rest in line four could sloshed that the soldiers are going to sleep for the night, scarcely they will not be able to sleep because of the poor conditions. The word trudge implies that they are walking with difficulty, and slows down the line, which indicates the weighing of the soldiers walk. The alliteration in the fifth line emphasises what Wilfred Owen is saying. It makes the metaphor men marched asleep seem more real and holds the line together over the full stop. Men limping blood shod emphasises their predicament and how different it is to the glorious battle they had expected. The twain lines in this verse create the impression that the soldiers are somehow in a daze and do not hear sounds fully. It is as if they have become isolated within themselves.Their illness is further emphasized when the poet says coughing like hagsFrom these sentences in the first stanza, we can i magine how tired and tire the soldiers must have been due to the war they are forced to fight.Wilfred Owen is also making use of metaphors to strengthen the lines of his poem. In the second stanza, Owen tells us about a dying man when he inhaled the gas.But someone was yelling out and stumblingAnd floundering like a man in fire or limeFrom this quote, we get a picture of how the dying man mat up just as he had inhaled the smoke.Wilfred Owen has do use of other literary techniques such as Direct speech, Alliteration and Onomatopoeia.In the second stanza, Owen has made use of direct speech to give the reader a hard-nosed feeling about what is happening in the poem.Gas Gas Quick, boysThe poet has also made use of Alliteration. In the third stanza, the poet saysBehind the wagon we flung him in,And rest the white eyes writhing in his faceHere the poet is telling us about the state in which the dying man was.The poet has also made use of two special features, enjambement and caesura. Wilfred Owen has made use of enjambement very often from the second stanza. This increases the pace of the poem which gives the reader an inside look into how fast people had to work at war. On the other hand, Owen has also made use of caesura. This slows down the pace of the poem and allows the reader to think about what the poet is saying. In the third stanza, Owen saysHis hanging face, like a devils sick of sinHere the poet is letting the reader to bonk how the dying man looked like after he inhaled the gas.In the poem Dulce et Decorum est, there are four verses with 28 lines. Each verse has a number of lines that vary in every verse. The poem does not have a definite rhyme but mostly it goes like a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d and so on but this pattern is disrupted a little bit in the later part of the poem. Stanza 3 is short as it sums up the nightmares Wilfred Owen is going through. Since the two lines are in the center(a) of much longer verses, the readers eyes get attracted to t hose lines.The poem Dulce et Decorum est was written by Wilfred Owen during the First dry land contend. In 1914 the First World War broke out on a largely innocent world, a world that still associated warfare with glorious cavalry charges and the noble credit line of heroic ideals. This was the worlds first experience of modern mechanised warfare. As the months and eld passed, each bringing increasing slaughter and misery, the soldiers became increasingly disillusioned. Many of the strongest protests made against the war were made through the medium of poetry by young men horrified by what they saw. One of these poets was Wilfred Owen.World War I, military conflict, from 1914 to 1918, that began as a local European war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia on July 28, 1914 was transformed into a general European struggle by Germanys resolution of war against Russia on August 1, 1914 and eventually became a global war involving 32 nations. The immediate cause of the war between Aus tria-Hungary and Serbia was the assassination on June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo in Bosnia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to the Austrian and Hungarian thrones, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serb nationalist. The fundamental causes of the conflict, however, were rooted deeply in the European history of the previous century, particularly in the political and economic policies that prevailed on the Continent after 1871, the year that marked the emergence of Germany as a great world power.The living conditions for the soldiers were terrible during the First World War. Many died due to diseases, epidemics and injuries caused through battle. Sometimes, the soldiers had no ammunition to fight with at all and hence were left helpless. Living conditions were as bad. Many had no proper shelter, or clothing. Wilfred Owen had made these conditions a reality in his poem. The color of the poem gives us an impression o f how bad the conditions mustve been for the soldiers during the war. Moreover he is saying this because he feels the soldiers are giving their life for nothing. Therefore he is melodic phraseing on the terrible conditions the soldier were living and fighting in.Wilfred Owen has written negative direct of his feelings for war. He has written about the tiredness of the soldiers when he saysMen marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blindDrunk with dull drunk even to the hootsIn this quote we can see that Wilfred Owen is attempt to tell us that the soldiers were very tired. This tells us that Wilfred Owen is giving us a negative impression of warThis poem was written by Wilfred Owen, who was a soldier in the First World War. He therefore gives a very vivid account of what it was like to be there, as he has had first- hand experience. The title of the poem means it is winsome and honourable, and the phrase is go on at the end of th e poemto die for your country. Just before this is utter at the end of the poem, Wilfred Owen chooses to write The Old Lie. This tells us he does not deal this statement to be true. The poem is filled with horrible stories about what rattling happened, and so Wilfred Owen is saying how can all of this suffering be sweet and proper?In my opinion, I do not like the poem very much. It gives a very horrific image of war. Although Wilfred Owen is right about Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori I still think that the poem is written quite harshly.The language used by the poet is not bad but the content is. The examples that Wilfred Owen has given us of warfare are very horrific. A man drowning in a gas of poisonous gas, a gathering of soldiers in ill condition etc, all this reflects upon the horrific accounts of warfare. If the poet were trying to stress his point through non-horrific examples, then the poem wouldve been a lot more enjoyable. But that doesnt mean I am criticizing the poet. Needless to say the poem is very well written. Its what the poet feels about warfare, which obviously I wouldnt criticize that at all as it is the poets opinion.