Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen
When looking at the poem Dulce et Decorum Est, one of the first things to note is the somber truth behind the date at the end of the poem beside Owen's name, 1893-1918. With little research, one can find out that the poet did not live through the war he wrote so vividly about (Britannica). Given this fact, and the horrifying specific details of the poem, it is not hard to picture the speaker of the poem as the poet himself recounting his own terrible firsthand experiences in World War 1. In a bittersweet truth, that is what makes this poem memorable; by witnessing firsthand the horrors of war, Wilfred Owen crafts a graphically descriptive war poem that can be equated to the real experience. By describing such a terrible experience Owen gives
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GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling/ Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time." Starting the stanza by impersonating an officer warning his men, then using the description of ecstasy of fumbling for their masks all adds to the sensory detail regarding the chaos of the scene. The stanza continues with the speaker describing one man not fortunate enough to get his mask on as he begins to feel the effects of the gas. From the speaker's perspective the man is "drowning" in a "green sea" which is a graphically realistic way of describing death by gas. As a "sea of green" the gas was likely chlorine which was lethal due to its ability to cause victims' lungs to flood with fluid. The man's death was akin to drowning in the actual sea.
The speaker continues the description by admitting that the image of that poor soldier drowning in his own lungs is scarred into memory: "In all my dreams before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." Not only does the speaker convey visual sense to the reader, but now includes sickening sounds as the auditory description of the soldier choking is given. As the image is scarred into the memory of the speaker, and the author gives such a detailed description, it is possible this very event could be the recollection of something etched into Owen's own memory as a true
GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling/ Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time." Starting the stanza by impersonating an officer warning his men, then using the description of ecstasy of fumbling for their masks all adds to the sensory detail regarding the chaos of the scene. The stanza continues with the speaker describing one man not fortunate enough to get his mask on as he begins to feel the effects of the gas. From the speaker's perspective the man is "drowning" in a "green sea" which is a graphically realistic way of describing death by gas. As a "sea of green" the gas was likely chlorine which was lethal due to its ability to cause victims' lungs to flood with fluid. The man's death was akin to drowning in the actual sea.
The speaker continues the description by admitting that the image of that poor soldier drowning in his own lungs is scarred into memory: "In all my dreams before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." Not only does the speaker convey visual sense to the reader, but now includes sickening sounds as the auditory description of the soldier choking is given. As the image is scarred into the memory of the speaker, and the author gives such a detailed description, it is possible this very event could be the recollection of something etched into Owen's own memory as a true