Dulce_Et_Decorum_Est

Dulce Et Decorum Est Interpretive Essay on “Dulce Et Decorum Est” By Wilfred Owen “In October 1917 Wilfred Owen wrote to his mother from Craiglockhart, ‘Here is a gas poem, done yesterday…….the famous Latin tag means of course it is sweet and meet to die for ones country. Sweet! And decorous!’” {1} Wilfred Owens poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a magnificent and stirring description of a gas attack suffered by a group of soldiers in World War I. Inspired by the author’s first hand experience, the poem’s grim description is especially moving. The title is ironic, as the work goes on to communicate the ridiculousness of the old Latin saying from the perspective of a soldier. The poem is composed of four stanzas. The first two appear to be in English sonnet form, although the last two are not nearly as structured. The tone from the outset is one of exhaustion and horror. The speaker’s words continually evoke realistic images of the scene before him. Through a combination of similes and metaphors, the author presents powerful literal images of war and artfully communicates the sense of despair with which the witnesses must have been struck. The word selection of stanza, speaker, soldiers, words, first, war, reader, old, seems, gas, description, poem, owen, experience, author, tone, rest, men, final, author’s, wilfred, through, soldier, scene, reference, now, listener, images, flares, exhaustion, death, conditions, compelling, young, work