Annotation Of War

In ‘Dulce est Decorum’, Wilfred Owen mocks the presentation of war in the public's eyes. He begins by using the title, which translates into an old Latin saying for ‘It is sweet and honourable to die for your country’. However, the use of this is very ironic as he proceeds to show how it's the complete opposite of that.

Owen mocks the idea of war that has been set out by authors like John McCrae, in the poem,“Flanders fields”, which gives the public a deceptive justification of war. The pugnacious writer goes on to reveal all the distress and uncertain battles the soldiers experienced everyday, not only those that they faced during the time of war but also the battles they had to cope with at every moment after it.

From the very first line
Although the public may have seen the soldiers as heroes, they were suffering heroes.

Carrying on with the themes of deception and illusory, Owen makes these ideas more apparent in his poem the ‘Letter’. The themes mentioned previously can be fortified by the irony which can be found throughout the poem. During, the course of the poem, Owen uses an unusual structure to show us the uncertainties as well as the feelings of desolate and bereft felt by the soldiers. All through the poem, Owen uses oscillating verses of text that are of combination of parenthesis and open
Owen urges his wife not to worry by the use of “I’ll be ‘ome. You mustn’t fret”. However, his pain is soon revealed with “Guh! Christ! I’m hit” the exclamation marks reveals the instant and torturous amount of pain felt by Owen. In addition, this shown by the use of “damn your Iodine”, specifically “Iodine” as it is used numb the pain of injuries. The use of “damn” also shows a certain amount of frustration being felt. Death for the writer seems to be imminent as he goes to show the affection he feels towards his wife and Jimmie in “Write my old girl, Jim, there’s a