Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen The

Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen

The tone of the poem is sombre, dark, and serious. • Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. • Men are described as old beggars and hags. • They walk through mud with great difficulty

The imagery is stark and violent • But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime 9. . . Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. • Owen describes a gas attack a green sea. • Owen describes men as drowning in the gas.

The rhyme scheme is consistant ab, ab and adds to the impact of the poem • If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; • My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. • The consistent rhyme pattern of the poem adds a punchy feeling to the poem. • The punchy feeling is especially felt as it highlights the ending message.

Similes are used to paint a dark and violent picture • And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; • The face looks as horrible as the devil’s face who is tired of seeing sin. • Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues • What he sees is horrible like cancer or like the pus oozing from wounds on a tongue.

The theme is made clear in the last two stanzas “nobility in war is a lie” and “War is horrible” • If in some smothering dreams you too could pace • Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; • My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 13 To children ardent 14 for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. If you did not die a horrible death like this one, then you surely saw it. Owen describes what he saw while he was a soldier. Unfortunately, he also died as a soldier in WWI. • The Latin phrase (popular before WWI) means “It is sweet and noble to die for your country”. Earlier, the poet describes a more accurate view of what war really looks like.

Theme – continued • The lie • The truth