The tone of the poem seems to be very antagonistic and bitter. "...Knock kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge." Is an example of aggressive tone and bitterness. It gives you an idea about the soldiers going barmy on the mud they have to trudge through. Irritated that there is so much filth that it's making them difficult to move. 'Sludge' and 'Trudge' gives you a heavy feeling. Owen wants you to feel that because mud is heavy. When you walk through it you feel heavy.

At the third line of the first stanza, the phrase "haunting flares" suggests the unforgettable blaze the soldiers saw made by artillery shells. Owen writes the soldiers heading back to safety where the word "rest" tells us that in the next line.

The first two lines of the poem describes the conditions of the retreating soldiers. The expression dealt with their reminds me of old and powerless people wobbling back to their shelter. "Bent-double" portrays the soldiers' current position, bent down facing the ground. Owen said

The last word of every line has a pair of rhyme when they are fitted together. Sacks and backs, blood and cud, glory and mori and so on. I think that Owen's part of success was based on the rhymes. For myself, I would have a great deal of difficulty trying to make the words rhyme and make sense at the same time. His structure of the poem is also quite unique. Owen split up the two lines between stanza two and four so it has its own stanza (stanza three). It appears that Owen wants these two lines the most effective words in it including the three '-ings' at the last sentence of the stanza.

Line seven and eight continues on with the loathsome descriptions. 'Obscene as cancer' is 'as sickening as a vile disease', 'Bitter as the cud' is 'as bitter as swallowing your vomit'. I had the feeling that Owen is trying to lose our appetite. Yet he is also trying to tell us the experience many soldiers have been through including the one Owen is talking about.

'Like a devil's sick of sin' means like a devil is fed up with doing evil things. So 'His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin' means the soldier's 'depressed' face is like a devil is sick of doing unpleasant things. Line five and six is, I believe, is the most effective sentence and also the most revolting phrase I've ever seen. The reason he wrote at every jolt is because it relates to the wagon and the bumpy ground.

It occurred to me that the beginning of the poem seemed quite slow when you're reading it. I suppose it's because of the words that are used like 'trudge'. Then at the realising of the gas attack everything seems to go at full speed. Words like 'fumbling' and 'floundering' makes you have an idea of speediness. Yet at the end of the poem everything seems to be at "normal speed". There are no words that speeds things up or slow things down. I realise that words can make your imagination or thinking at different speeds.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ti-Tum Ti-Tum, Decorum Est, Est Pro, Translation Dear, Est Dulce, Personally Owen, Five-Nines Five-Nines, et decorum, dulce et decorum, et decorum est, decorum est, dulce et, ti-tum ti-tum, pro patria, est pro, patria mori, pro patria mori, est pro patria, decorum est pro, , Wilfred Owen's, line stanza, sweet fitting, 'it sweet,
Approximate Word count = 1613
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)