Dulce Et Decorum Est

La Shaun Caesar
February 26, 2012
A Glorious, Honorable Lie Honor. Glory. These two words alone are enough for young men to take the bloody plunge into battle without knowing the harsh reality about war. In "Dulce Et Decorum Est", Wilfred Owen, the narrator, defiantly exposes that honoring your country is not a glorious experience, but is a lingering nightmare. Men who march into war are usually portrayed as strong and robust heroes. They return home after a victory to be praised and honored for their courageous accomplishments, but this is just an illusion, meant to attract young men into the ruthless hands of death. War is not always magnificent, for many are honored from their grave sites after a horrific death. Those who make it back home haven’t mentally left the battlefield, they are traumatized from the physical and mental scars that will haunt them for days to come. Owen uses a great deal of imagery, forcing the reader to imagine the immense pain and suffering that takes place on the battlefield. He uses his personal experiences to inform young readers of the horrors of war and his resentment for “the old lie: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”, which has led the naïve to their demise.
Owen begins with an effective simile, describing the weary condition of the soldiers. He describes them as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knocked-kneed, coughing like old hags…” (Lines 1-2). He purposely contrasts the ideal image of a war hero, who is portrayed as upright and strong as they pounce into battle to show the true face of war. By exaggerating the young soldiers’ appearances, he conveys that they are exhausted and terrified rather than heroic and steadfast. It is also ironic how youthful men, who should be glorified for battling for their nation, resemble old crippled beggars, citizens in society who are looked down upon.
Owen forces the reader to imagine the immense pain and suffering he watches his comrade endure on the battlefield. In Stanzas, Owens uses various similes to describe the perils he sees in the warzone. “Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning...”(lines 13-14). Owen’s is watching one of his comrades suffocating in chemical gases and refers to it as a “green sea”, meaning there was no escape as it completely filled the atmosphere. He describes the reaction of his friend as a man in “fire or lime”, meaning he was frantically trying to save himself, flailing around, although it was hopeless. The bitter sight of his comrade perishing in the deathly gases has constantly tormented him in his sleep. All he could do was helplessly watch his friend struggle to breathe.
“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth- corrupted lung, Obscene as cancer...”(lines 21-23), Owens purposely wants to disgust the reader so they can develop an understanding of the cold, harsh war using these ghastly images to show there is nothing sweet about dying for your country. As we read these lines , a glimpses of the blood oozing form the internal organs of the carcass sets in our minds as if we were seeing it first-hand. He expresses the seriousness of dying in war by comparing it to “obscene cancer”. By using cancer, a well-known cause of death, the seriousness of dying during combat is amplified.
Owen shows his resentment towards the lies young men are fed before they go into combat He refers to them as “children ardent for some desperate glory…” (26). Their nativity and innocence allows their mind to be captivated by the propaganda of the government, only thinking in the moment and not of the foreseen bloodshed. The government causes them to believe fighting is worthwhile, when most of the time the end result is death. They are unaware of how cruel death by artillery and a sea of gas will be. It is only when they are dying an intolerable death they begin to question the glory they eagerly traded their lives for. Using imagery he depicts gruesome pictures of his personal experiences at war and is successful in emphasizing the grotesqueness. If people are going to put their life on death row for their country, they have the right to know it is one of the ugliest experiences they will ever face.