Dulce Et Decorum Est The poem we will

Dulce Et Decorum Est • The poem we will be studying is ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ • However, before we can study ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, we need to have an understanding of the context of the poem and why the poet, Wilfred Owen, wrote it • Today we will be learning a little about the World War One.

The context of WW 1 • What do you know about WW 1? • In pairs, note down any information that you know. • Be prepared to feedback to the class! (3 mins)

Some information • 1914 -1918 • Fought between Germany and England/France/ Belgium and other Allied countries. • Mainly fought in Trenches. • British war dead: about 880, 000 men from the United Kingdom, plus a further 200, 000 from other countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth. German dead: approximately 1, 808, 000

How would the government get these men to fight?

War Propaganda What is Propaganda? • Propaganda is spreading information to support a cause or belief. Lies and (or) exaggeration are used to convince someone to do or believe something.

Learning Intentions understand the importance of context to poetry • understand the role of propaganda in WW 1 • Success criteria • Correctly identify what propaganda is, and why it was used.

Pairs Activity • In your pairs, you will be looking at some posters from the first world war. • Discuss the images and answer the questions on each, in the space provided. • Be prepared to feedback to the class – anyone could be asked. • You have 10 minutes!

The men were convinced to fight through effective propaganda. Persuasive Language • Alliteration- repeating the same letter more than twice • Imperative- using a command 1. Find an example of an imperative and an example of alliteration from this poster: • Imperative =___________________________________ • Alliteration =___________________________________

Persuasive Language Why is the poster describing the country and the soldiers as lions? Answer=_____________________ ______________ What persuasive technique is being used when it says “All answer the call” or “Enlist now”______________

Idealised Imagery • Colour- dark green represents army and masculinity. • Horses- represent boyhood fantasies of war…think of chariots or the use of horses in films e. g. Westerns • Who is the target audience for this poster? Give two reasons why. • Answer: _____________________________________ • Reason 1. = _____________________________________ • Reason 2 = _____________________________________

Authority Figures: Lord Kitchener He was a National war hero and a great soldier who led Britain to previous victories! 1. Considering all aspects, how is this image used to persuade men to enlist? • • Answer=_____________________________________________________________________ 1. Do you think it is effective? • Answer=______________________ _______________

Language and pictures were also used to create a joint message • Men were inadvertently pressurised into joining the army. In what ways do these images do this? (You can bullet point your answers) • Answer: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

Music was also affected by propaganda – listen carefully to the words encouraging the Americans to get involved in WW 1 http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=wbgg. EGUa. E 28&feature=related

Propaganda in literature • Poetry played a major part in convincing people that the war was worth fighting.

‘Who’s for the game? ’ by Jessie Pope Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, The red crashing game of a fight? Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight? Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’? Who’ll give his country a hand? Who wants a turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stand? Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much. Yet eagerly shoulders a gun? Who would much rather come back with a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? Come along, lads – But you’ll come on all right – For there’s only one course to pursue, Your country is up to her neck in a fight, And she’s looking and calling for you. 1. Decide how this poem persuades people to join up: 2. Do you think that it successfully achieves its purpose? How? 3. Who is this poem targeting? 4. What does the poem suggest about those who enlist to fight? 5. What does it compare war to and how? 6. Which techniques can you find?

Reactions to this propaganda - literature • Wilfred Owen was a soldier on the front line during WW 1. • He was killed in action, just a week before the war ended. • He wrote the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ in protest at Jessie Pope’s poem ‘Who’s for the game? ’ • He could see, first hand, the harsh realities of war, and was disgusted at the extent of propaganda used to encourage young men to sign up. He wanted to speak out against the death and destruction it brought.

Dulce et Decorum est Does anyone know what this means? DULCE ET DECORUM EST • Taken from a Latin saying meaning ‘It is sweet and right (to die for your country)’in other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to die for your country. • This was widely quoted at the beginning of the war and poems like Jessie Pope’s ‘Who’s for the Game? ’ reflected this idea.

Video reading of the poem

DULCE ET DECORUM EST Wilfred Owen Close Reading of Language

Is this sweet? Is this right? Is this fitting? • With mustard gas the effects did not become apparent for up to twelve hours. But then it began to rot the body, inside and out. • The skin blistered, the eyes became extremely painful and nausea and vomiting began. • Worse, the gas attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucus membrane. • The pain was almost beyond endurance and most victims had to be strapped to their beds. • Death took up to four or five weeks.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we curse through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Critical Essay Feedback COPY THIS DOWN • A lot of pupils only dealt with part of the poem (for example, the gas attack or the introduction). You must deal with the poem in its entirety so you can demonstrate an understanding of how the ideas of the writer develop during the course of the poem. • You must link back to the task at the start of each paragraph to show their line of thought is relevant to the task refer to the question in your Point/topic sentence. • You must practise regularly under timed conditions to build up your speed.

Activity 1 (5 mins) Owen uses lots of powerful imagery and similes to describe the soldiers. Find three examples of this from THROUGHOUT the poem and explain the effect these might have on the reader.

Activity 2 1. What is the impact of ‘Gas! Quick boys!’ 2. Owen describes the soldiers putting their gas masks on as ‘an ecstasy of fumbling’. Why does he use the word ‘ecstasy’?

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound’ring 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. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

Activity 3 1. What is Owen describing here? 2. What is the effect of the line ‘guttering, choking, drowning’?

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; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

Activity 4 1. Why does Owen describe his dreams as ‘smothering’? 2. What is the impact of using the word ‘flung’? 3. This is a description of a man after a gas attack, as his lungs are slowly eaten away. Which ugly words and comparisons describe this? 4. Who do you think Owen is addressing here when he says ‘If you could hear’?

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.

Activity 5 1. What is the tone of these final lines? 2. How do you feel about this poem and what do you think its final message is?

The first two stanzas: Metaphor Assonance Repetition Alliteration Simile (1) (2) (4) (6) (9) Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, (3) 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 marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. (5) All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of (7)fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And (8) flound'ring 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.

The first stanza • “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” • In the first stanza, the speaker describes the march of soldiers who have fought hard, but now they are out of supplies and in desperate need of medical attention. The speaker is one of the soldiers describing his fellow soldiers. • Beggars: "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" is a simile, which compares the men marching to beggars. Starting the poem off with an image of men "doubled" creates the possibility that the soldiers really have become two people: the men they were before the war and the creatures that they are now. • Owen compares the soldiers to ‘beggars’ and ‘hags’ (old women) to describe their terrible health and to underline their desperation. • But as bad as their condition is it about to get worse because they are barely staying ahead of “gas-shells dropping softly behind. ” Many have no boots and their feet are bleeding, but they are heading to their “distant rest” though it is a difficult march. They are so tired it is almost impossible to function. • The parallel construction of the lines "All went lame; all blind; " emphasizes misery as something all the soldiers experience. No one escapes. No one.

The first ‘stanza’ Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 1. How does calling the soldiers ‘beggars’ make them seem? Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, 2 a) How does this make the conditions of war sound? Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs b) Why do you think Owen finds war haunting? (Think about what he was put into hospital for) And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, 3. Why are the men ‘marching asleep’? But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; 4. ‘Lame’ means crippled here. How do you think Owen feels about the fact the young soldiers are in such a poor state of health? Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. 5. Why do you think the soldiers are now ‘deaf’ to the ‘Five-nines’ (explosive shells)?

The second stanza Second Stanza: “Gas! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling” • But then suddenly someone calls out “Gas! Quick, boys!” And they begin hastily to put on their “clumsy helmets. ” But one soldier did not get his gas mask on in time, and the speaker describes him. • The way mustard gas affects the respiratory system is like drowning, so the speaker is portraying the dying man as a drowning victim. The speaker likens the sight as “under a green sea” denoting the way the air would look after they had been bombarded with mustard gas. The air looked like the sea, and the man who failed to get his helmet on in time is therefore drowning. • The imagery of these lines is intense. Murky green lights and all-encompassing fog create a nightmare-like atmosphere.

The second stanza Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. . . 1. What are these lines describing? Describe how this experience would feel to watch. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light. 2. How does the atmosphere make the scene sound? As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. 3. How do you think Owen would feel about watching his friend ‘drowning’? (The soldier wasn’t actually drowning but Owen is using an extended metaphor to compare the gas attack to this slow and painful death. )

Line by line analysis Stanza One

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, • Written in the past tense. • Suggests the soldiers are crippled or weighed down by exhaustion. • The simile compares the soldiers to beggars because of their ragged, dirty appearance. • The word has negative connotations of being homeless, uncared for.

Knock kneed, coughing like old hags, we cursed through sludge, • Alliteration of ‘kn’ sound • A simile comparing the soldiers to hags; old, ugly, ill. • ‘We’ introduces the poetic persona for the first time so far. • “Curse through sludge” – repetition of ‘u’ vowel sound is called assonance. It lengthens how we say the words.

Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs • A metaphor comparing the light of the flare guns to ghosts. Also a play on the idea that the whole war is ‘haunting’ the soldiers who cannot escape it. • ‘turned out backs’ generally means to shun/avoid/ignore something. The soldiers are however only leaving the fight behind to return to it the next day.

And towards our distant rest began to trudge • The idea of a “distant rest” is ironic. Is it their barracks? If so how comfortable or pleasant will they be? Or is it simply the rest that their inevitable death will grant them? • Owen’s word choice of “trudge” suggests a long, difficult, unhappy journey.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots • Alliteration of “m” • A creepy, eerie image – as though they are the walking dead, like zombies. • Full stop creates a pause. Adds to the tension. Called caesura. • Repetition of “l” creates and long feeling continued over the next few lines.

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; • Word choice of “blood-shod” suggests their feet are so injured and sore they are covered in blood, as though they are wearing shoes made of blood. • The choice of the word “shod” is unusual since it would generally be used when talking about animals with hooves (horses) so it actually dehumanizes the soldiers. Owen implies they are nothing more than beasts of burden. • “All” implies every single solider has something wrong with him.

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots • Metaphor – The soldiers are so tired they seem intoxicated – staggering, uncoordinated. They feel confused rather than alert. • Though the bomb shells dropping make a very loud noise the soldiers have become so used to hearing it they are not alarmed by it but actually accustomed to it. • ‘Hoots’ - sound technique - onomatopoeia

Of disappointed shells that dropped behind. • The shells have missed their targets. They have not killed anyone. Owen suggests that they feel sad/bad about this. • An unsettling feeling that just behind them, close by, bombs are being dropped but they are too tired to really hurry or care.

Stanza 2

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling • Abrupt change of tense, from past to present. Conveys a sense of urgency. • Capital letters are very alarming. Suggest action. • Sound technique – Repetition of ‘gas’ plus repetition of ‘!’ indicates the men have woken up, sprung into action and are rallying to warn each other. • Oxymoron - seems at first odd like a contradiction since the two words don’t seem to match, but then perfect as a way to describe the controlled panic instantly awakened with heightened sensibility- of men with just seconds to find a gas mask. • Apocalyptical

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; • Transferred epithet – it’s not the helmets that are clumsy, but the men who are handling them, probably through both fear and exhaustion.

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling • Address – ‘someone’ an unknown man. Eerie and in the moment that this dreadful incident happens. • Sound technique – repetition of ‘ing’ verb ending to create a sense of movement.

And floundering like a man in fire or lime. - • Simile – compares the man being gassed with someone burning in order to help the reader, who cannot truly know, get a better picture of what this gas was capable of. • ‘floundering’ - like a fish out of water – the soldier being gassed cannot breath. Sea imagery.

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light • Owen speaks from experience – through his gas mask and the thick mist of gas he is watching a man die.

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. • Again with the sea imagery. • Simile – Owen compares the gas covered landscape to water which conveys the extent and the pervasiveness of the gas. • Metaphor – the man is choking in gas, but he seems to be drowning.

Stanza Three • WHY? • TO CHANGE THE TENSE BACK TO NOW….

In all my dreams before my helpless sight, • ‘dreams’ – more like night terrors. • Address – to emphasise that Owen speaks from personal experience. • Word choice – ‘helpless’ – Owen could do nothing to save his fellow soldier.

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. • Word choice – ‘plunges’ – the gassed man is pleading to be saved and appeals to Owen who as we know is ‘helpless’ • Sound technique – repetition of ‘ing’ verbs to indicate he is moving and flailing about in desperation and panic. • Word choice – ‘guttering’ – like a candle being snuffed out. The man’s life is being put out. • Repetition of ‘drowning’.

Stanza Four

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace • Owen appeals to the reader’s senses. First it is SIGHT. • Word choice of ‘smothering’ – very negative, these memories are so strong for Owen he feels suffocated by them.

Behind the wagon that we flung him in, • Word choice – ‘flung’. Like an inanimate object. Something with no worth left. And remember, this man is dying, he is not dead yet.

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face. • Word choice – ‘To watch’ – not just glance but to have to watch and not be able to look away or unsee such a grim sight. • Word choice - ‘writhing’ – technically eyes cannot writhe way your whole body can, the way a snake does, but the word is still effective. You would writhe if you are in a lot of pain and this soldier is in excruciating pain.

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; • Word choice – ‘hanging’ – he has no energy to lift his head so it rolls about; also connotations of death – he has been executed by the war. • Imagery – simile – what this man has experienced is so terrible even the devil would find it too much to take.

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, • Again, Owen appeals to the reader’s senses, this time HEARING. • Word choice – ‘jolt’ – implies the wagon is rickety and is going over rough terrain. • Word choice – gargling – a large amount of blood • Word choice – corrupted. The soldier is going rotten from the inside out

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud • Simile – the sound of the soldier’s agony is the worst imaginable thing ever. Like cancer, but mega fast acting.

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, • Contrast – Owen contrasts the poisonous gas and its effects with the innocent soldiers. • He could also be referring to the war itself – that it is something vile which corrupts and devastates the innocent.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, • “My friend” – Owen is almost pleading with the subject, trying to stop them campaigning about the ‘glory’ of the war. • “high zest” – enthusiasm, so very different from the exhaustion and numbness the soldiers who are actually fighting are experiencing. • “children” – again, emphasising the innocence of the soldiers; could be referring to the young age of many of those fighting, or the idea that they have innocently signed up without understanding what would be asked of them. • “desperate glory” – the notion that there is no real ‘glory’ in fighting in this war; that those who believe there is are desperate in their search for heroism or honour, none of which are really present in the trenches.

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. • “The old Lie” – this is a lie that has been to generation after generation – Owen believes there is no glory in dying for your country, and that soldiers are lied to by governments and rulers. • In calling it a lie so blatantly, Owen also reveals his own bitterness at the lies he and the others have been told. • “Dulce et Decorm est Pro patria mori” – the title of the poem, but it only comes at the very end, highlighting it’s importance. • It means “How sweet and right it is to die for one’s country” but the fact that Owen includes it in its original Latin highlights the lack of understanding he wants to convey – that soldiers who sign up do not fully understand what they are being asked to do.

Metaphor His bedroom was like a bombsite Imagery Simile His bedroom was a bombsite He snored, the dog snored, his whole bedroom snored Personification

Think about the imagery that is being used to describe the gas Whilst I read add images to your mind map

Tommo’s letter to Charlie • Lance-Sergeant Elmer Cotton, Northumberland Fusiliers: 'Propped up against a wall was a dozen men - all gassed. . . ' • Propped up against a wall was a dozen men - all gassed - their colours were black, green and blue, tongues hanging out and eyes staring - one or two were dead and others beyond human aid, some were coughing up green froth from their lungs - as we advanced we passed many more men lying in the ditches and gutterways shells were bursting all around. • My respirator fell to pieces with the continual removal and readjustment - the gas closed my eyes and filled them with matter and I could not see. I was left lying in the trench with one other gassed man and various wounded beings and corpses and forced to lie and spit, cough and gasp the whole of the day in that trench.

Critical Essay Feedback • A lot of pupils only dealt with part of the poem (for example, the gas attack or the introduction). You must deal with the poem in its entirety so you can demonstrate an understanding of how the ideas of the writer develop during the course of the poem. • You must link back to the task at the start of each paragraph to show their line of thought is relevant to the task refer to the question in your Point/topic sentence. • You must practise regularly under timed conditions to build up your speed.