Wilfred Owen's Poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'

Dulce et Decorum estThis Poem Dulce et Decorum est was written during the First World War by a man named Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen at the time this poem was written was an officer in the British Army and this poem depicts how he deeply opossed the intervention of one nation into another. Owen allows us to see his veiw on World War One, and the reader gets a first hand experience of the atrocities these soldiers had to face as it was written by a man who was there and lived the experience, in this poem Owen conveys the horrors of the war and uncovers the hidden truths behind the First World War that the propaganda posters did not show.The first line of the poem “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags”, and
it immediately shows the reader that this is not a poem to promote the war but it is an anti-war poem. This statement provides the reader with a very different image of the soldiers as they are shown on the propaganda posters as strong, healthy and athletic looking men and Owen replaces this image with the use of the words “Beggar” and “Hag” and allows the reader to view the real soldiers that are fighting for their country. The line “we cursed through sludge”, shows the reader that Owen was there throughout the event that took place.
“And towards our distant rest begun to trudge”The finale onomatopoeia of ‘trudge’ is a description of the soldiers walking through the sludges. They ‘trudged’ which suggest their slow pace and difficulty of movement. This means, that they limped and dragged themselves through these terrible conditions towards a ‘distant’ rest that was still far away, nowhere to be seen. In this statement the poet conveys the horrors of war by showing the reader the soldier’s sufferings.
The poem then takes a faster pace with the line “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!”- An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the Clumsy Helmets just in time”, Owen here is telling the reader about an attack where chlorine gas was exposed to the soldiers, and were to act quickly because if they where not to the effects of this gas imitate the symptoms of a man who is drowning, the soldiers lungs would fill with fluid and they would die a horrible death. The passage “But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, and floundering like a man in fire or lime, dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning” shows the reader an more indepth look to the horrors of war. What Owen was trying to do hear was to show the reader that the reality was much different, he wanted to show the reader that these soldiers where dies obsene and terrible deaths and he wanted to throw war in the face of the reader to illustrate how vile and inhumane war really was.
Throughout this poem Owen varies his language and choice of techniques, and every word has a significant meaning and every sentence has a purpose, Owen never fails to shock the reader with his thourouh description of the poems events.
Owen then makes it clear to the reader, that he himself knows that what they are reading will shock them, that is why in the next quote he says that they could only imagine this in their dreams it also hints at Owen's disbelief that this too could be happening to him. “If in some smothering dreams you could pace, Behind the wagon we flung him in”. This suggests how meaninglessly and disrespectivly the bodies of the dead soldiers where treated. This extract shows an example of effective imagery and Owen uses a lot of imaginative language, all these techniques that Owen is using has an imaginative effect on the reader, as the reader subconsiously imagining what is taking place.Wilfred Owen knew very much about his fellow soldiers, including their age and experiences. And despite their difference in age, they shared their feeling with one another. That is why the poet uses sarcasm and sorrow in this next quotation.“My friend, you would not tell with such high zest, To children ardent for some desperate glory,”The poet is being ironic, when he uses the address: ‘my friend’. By this, he is addressing the ‘higher ups’ and the government who were the reason for the death of so many, while thy could prevent it. The word ‘zest’ represents engagement and
vigour with which the soldiers had been persuaded into the army. The word ‘children’ explains the age of the soldiers, roughly: the boys were not even men, but children. These boys had been desperate for the glory but they had not been informed that there was no glory in war.
Dulce et Decorum est is Latin for It is Sweet and..., even the title of this poem suggest sarcasism on behalf of Owen but also anger. Owen signed up to the war to fight for his country with the propaganda image of war in his head and when he arrived he witnessed something he could have never imaginged, he witnessed people dying all around him he lived in retchid conditions and he soon realised that what all these sodiers where going through was not worth it hence the sarcastic final line “ Dulce et Decurum est. Pro Patria more”, which means “it is sweet and fitting to die for ones country”.