Wilfred_Owen_-_Dulce_Et_Decorum_Est

The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen is a poem in which a particular incident is vividly described. The poet focuses mostly on the one character when describing this incident and shows personal feelings by using striking words, unusual images and effective sounds. The first incident of striking words being used occurs in the first verse when the poet is describing his fellow soldiers as they march in extremely difficult conditions. The soldiers are unwell and are exhausted. The poet uses such expressions as “Bent Double”, “old beggars”, “Knock-Kneed”, and “Coughing like hags” to describe clearly the poor physical conditions of the men. The poet also says that they “cursed through the sludge” to describe the horrible conditions and to express the soldiers’ opinions of their task. There is a very slow pace conveyed here to emphasise the weariness and exhaustion of the soldiers in these horrific conditions. Also, when the poet describes the men as “coughing like hags” he does so to emphasise the men’s sickness and ill-health caused by their suffering. Later, in the first verse, the poet portrays on unusual image of the soldiers as they continue through the “sludge”. He gives the reader a very in-depth description of the men as they “marched asleep” to highlight that they are barely conscious due to their exhaustion. The poet also reveals that the soldiers are “drunk with fatigue” because they are not acting normally also due to their extreme exhaustion. The men are walking away from the frontline, heading for rest and the thought of rest overcomes their desire to stop despite their clear exhaustion. At the start of the second verse, the poet begins to describe the main incident within the poem and indicates a dramatic change in pace to present a clear image of panic. The soldiers are surprised by a gas attack by the enemy and some soldiers have trouble putting on their gas masks during their panic. The poet started this verse by writing “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” which immediately changes the pace offering a surprisingly quick start to the verse. The poet uses effective word choice when he describes the gas masks as clumsy in the expression “fitting the clumsy helmets”. Ironically, it is not the helmets that are clumsy but the soldiers who are having difficulty putting them on in time. The transferred epithet is successful in highlighting the problems experienced by the soldiers. The poet then introduces the character who becomes the focal point of the poem and starts to explain why he stands out form the other soldiers. The poet notices the soldier and describes him as “yelling out and stumbling”. This expression describes the man as shouting for help and struggling to keep his feet. The soldier has not managed to fix his mask on in time and is suffering enormously. The poet also describes him as “floundering like a man in fire or lime”. These striking words and imagery suggest burning to describe the horrific effect of the gas on the man’s lungs once both fire and lime have a caustic and burning effect. This is effective as it emphasises the man’s agony and the idea that the gas is killing him. At the end of the second verse, the poet vividly describes the setting and uses repetition of “green” to emphasis the surrounding colour. The green gas now completely surrounds the soldiers and blocks the sun as the poet describes “misty panes” and “thick green light”. The lack of light affects visibility but the poet can still see the anonymous soldier who was shouting for help while he was dying. The poet describes this by using a metaphor of the gas being like water and he watches as “under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” This metaphor is effective in the context because it presents the reader with a clear image of the soldier dying as if the gas is enveloping him and keeping him under. In verse three, the poet expresses his guilt and makes his point effectively by making the verse very short as it is only one sentence. His guilt is conveyed as he describes the nightmares he is experiencing and how he is haunted by the dead soldier when he says “in all my dreams”. This quote is effective as it conveys how the poet is haunted by his thoughts of the soldier every night. The poet describes himself as having “helpless sight” at the time of the incident to highlight that his part in the situation was futile. Owen could not help the man yet he still feels guilt and cannot forget what happened. He adds to the horror of the image by using onomatopoeia to describe the man dying. In the poet’s nightmares the man is “choking, drowning” and is effective because it emphasis’s the man’s dramatic and noisy death. The words used by Owen conveys the sounds the man made as he fought to survive in the gas. At the start of the last verse, the poet includes unusual images to describe the appearance of the dying soldier. Two occurrences of unusual images being used are “hanging face” and “devil’s sick of sin”. These expressions suggest that the man’s appearance is grotesque and resembles that of the devil since he no longer looks human as a result of being racked with pain. The poet also describes the man as having “white eyes writhing”, to highlight that the man was dying in so much pain that his eyes roll back showing only white. As the soldiers load the dying man’s body onto their wagon, the poet uses a very informal word choice to describe the way that the body was thrown. The poet informs us that they “flung him” into the wagon in such a way that suggests that the men were careless and negligent towards the dying man. At this point Owen wants to highlight that the men themselves were exhausted because of the conditions and that their experience of war left them no chance to behave more humanely. However, the tone of the fourth verse is extremely bitter and the poet shows personal opinions of this particular incident and war as a whole. The poet uses striking words and once again to emphasise the pain and horror of the incident. The dying soldier is described to have “blood come gargling” as he is coughing blood from his defective and damaged lungs as they are described as being “froth-corrupted”. This happens “at every jolt” and Owen highlights that every time the wagon passes over a bump, the man is clearly in intense pain and is very close to death. Finally, the poet concludes his memory of the incident and uses striking words quoting a Latin expression to paint a memorable picture. The poet emphasises his message at the end of the poem and addresses the reader directly. The poet’s message here is “Dulce et decorum est. Pro patria mori.” which translated means it is a proud and fitting thing to die for your country. This statement is said in a sarcastic tone as this whole poem was intended to convey that it is not a proud and fitting thing to die for your country. It is nothing other than a horrible agonizing death. Wilfred Owen’s poem "Dulce et Decorum Est” is one which uses striking words, unusual images and effective sounds, and paints a memorable picture with a clear message conveying Owens’ intense hatred of war. It emphasises the reality of war and shows the horror of all the deaths in the war rather than the honour and patriotism which the propaganda machine was meant to promote.