Dulce et Decorum est: A Poetic Exploration of War's Reality, Exercises of Poetry

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Dulce et Decorum

Est

Wilfred Owen

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=SgQhH67oPgY

Explanation of Poem

The poem is about soldiers going to attack. It

describes the brutal conditions at war. It

describes when their base is being gassed and

the brutality of seeing the soldiers friend’s

dying in front of their eyes and being helpless. It

also tells us about the government lying to the

citizens about the conditions of being at war

and being thought of as heros.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood- shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of disappointed shells that dropped behind. The soldiers were like zombies they were so tired. Many soldiers were injured and missing clothing. Many soldiers had lost their hearing because of bombs dropped.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. The dying man falls at the poet begging for help

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,-- The poet describes the noise of the blood of the dying man coming out of his mouth. The poet uses a simile referring to the scene like cancer or cud.

Poetic Techniques The first line is a simile. “ bent double over like old beggars under sacks ” This creates an image of the bent over soldiers look as disheveled as a beggar/poor person. The metaphor “Drunk with fatigue, deaf even to the hoots Of gas shells dropping softly behind ” suggests how exhausted and lethargic these men were so that they ignored the dangers of the shelling. J ust as a drunken man staggers unsteadily, so too the soldiers could not march properly through exhaustion and like a deaf person they could no longer hear the shells.

Theme:

❖ The theme of this poem is war. It shows

when the poem says “Gas! Gas! Quick

boys!”.

❖ This can also been seen when the

soldiers are being described at the start of

the poem. “Bent double like old beggars

under sacks”.