Comparing Poems 'Dulce Decorum Est'

English B Essay anonymous Ms.Carty

Essay Questions 1. Explain the situation in each poem in which there is needless loss of life. (8mks) 2. Say what techniques each poet uses to stir your emotions in response to that loss of life.(9mks) 3. Say which of the two poems you feel make the more convincing protest.(8mks)

Both of the poems “Dulce de decorum Est” and “The woman speaks to the man who employs her Son” are protests against violence and the cruel waste of young lives in society. In this essay I will break down main aspects of the two poems in order to fully understand the deep content of them. The poem “Dulce de decorum Est” is a poem in which the poet protests against violence and the cruel waste of young lives
in society. The name translates in English-“sweet and honourable it is to die for one\'s country” this statement here is quite a misconception, it may seem that it is noble or brave for a young man to go out and fight for his country but people often do not know the horrific reality of war. The poet fought in this war and saw the dreads of it. The sole purpose of him writing this poem is to expose to the public that it is not as it seems, to show that it is far from sweet to die for one’s country although it may seem so. Stanzas 2 and 3 demonstrate the disturbing reality of a soldier dying a gruesome death. The poet shows the panic and indignity of war by his use of diction using crucial words such as “choking” and “guttering” these show the reader the intense horror and agony these young men face. The poet wants people to know that there is nothing “sweet” or “honourable” about his death as they throw him into the cart as he died a miserable painstaken death. The poem “The woman speaks to the man who employs her Son” also protests about the wastage of young lives. In this poem it is the mother who is protesting, this is because her son whom she had high hopes of that she had raised twice herself as a mother and as a father, has naively situated himself in a gang related occupation. He begins to ‘work’ for someone who gives him a gun. The mother clearly sees the outcome of her son’s ‘profession’ and excepts his inevitable end. She antagonizes her son’s employer as she feels that his horizons are wider than that of a submachine gun wielding gangster. She doesn’t want this young life that she had put so much love and effort into to be wasted as she prays for her child and says protective psalms for him. On the other hand, she reads psalms of retribution for the employer and weeps for her son. This is all she feels she could do in her powerless state of pain and sorrowful anticipation. In the poem “Dulce de decorum Est” the poet uses multiple techniques to stir the emotions of readers.
One instance of this is onomatopoeia, it is effectively used in this poem as it clearly and cohesively assists in portraying the reality of war. Words like “guttering” and “choking” raises the reader’s emotions so they can begin to understand the great height of terror that it instills in response to that loss of life. Another technique used is strong imagery, while the reader paints an alternate world of wretched death and futility, the images show the grief and overwhelming exhaustion of the soldiers. The scenes that can be pictured of the soldier
dying, “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin” This quotation clearly shows the poet’s extreme pity for the soldier and dislike for the likeness of war which he does not condone in any way. The poem “The woman speaks to the man who employs her Son” the poet uses many techniques to stir emotions such as irony which can be seen in this quotation: “…that you value him so much you give him one whole submachine gun for him alone” This quote shows how ironic it is that a father would give his son a submachine gun, which would surely draw death, to one he regards as a son. The mother his highly enraged at this and prays for them both for she foresees the worst. The poet also alludes to a section in the bible where it mentions ‘Absalom’, Absalom is the son of David, in the Christian Bible. Absalom betrayed his father, which implies that the mother feels betrayed by her son because she has placed all her hopes in him. She feels as if all her hard work of raising him twice and not limiting her aspirations of what he could be have all been worthless because this will surely become a waste when he finally “draws his bloody salary”. Of the two poems the one which portrays the most convincing and engaging protest is that of “Dulce de Decorum est”. One reason for this is the name of the poem is in Latin which entices you to wonder what it means, whilst doing this you will notice the poet spends the entire poem disproving what the title means. The entire poem does much to undermine the title of the poem and this is why I find it interesting and also this creates a great sense of irony which has a large impact on the effectiveness of the poem. The entire content of the poem appeals to all or most of the senses of humans which allows the reader to feel a hands on experience to what is going on in the poem. The poet uses similes such as: "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks." This allows a person to visualize a group of people bent over, too malnourished and beaten to even stand up straight.
The author also utilizes words that have definite negative connotations in order to give the reader a feeling of unease and malady. Words like as "sludge," "fatigue," "guttering," "froth-corrupted," "vile," and "incurable," all have negative references. The words taken from the context of the poem still do not have any positive images or ideas associated with them. By choosing such words Owen condemns his poem to have a sorrowful, sad and ugly mood throughout.
Owen uses these literary devices and others to reach a single end. Sensory images of watching a man, in service of his country, die a terrible death. All these factors come together in this poem to enforce a common cause or protest which makes this poem clearly the more convincing of the two
poems.
Both the poems of “Dulce de Decorum est” and “The woman speaks to the man who employs her Son” are protests against violence and the cruel waste of young lives in society in which I have elaborated on crucial points within both of them for the sole purpose of understanding their true meaning.