Dulce et decorum est
Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors "Dulce et Decorum Est" gives the reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem is an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen and makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument. To have a better understanding of the poem, it is important to understand some of Wilfred Owen's history. Owen enlisted in the Artists' Rifles on October 21st 1915. He was eventually drafted to France in 1917. The birth of Owen's imagery style used in his more famous poems was during his stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where he met Siegfried Sassoon (another great war poet). Owen's new style (the one that was used in "Dulce et Decorum Est") embelished many poems between August 1917 and Septermber 1918 (Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia). On November 4, 1918,
Wilfred Owed was killed by enemy machine gun fire as he tried to get his company across the Sambre Canal (Lane 167). In the second stanza, the pace of the narrative is increased. Owen describes the flurry of activity that takes place when it dawns on the platoon that they have the hazard of gas to deal with. He begins by writing "Gas, GAS!"(9), which instantly grabs the attention of the reader, and by writing it first in lower case and then again in capitals, he gives an impression of the rising alarm in the solders. Owen uses the expression "an ecstasy of fumbling"(9) to describe the soldiers trying desperately to get out and fit their gas masks, the word "ecstasy"(9) being used to give us the impression of the complete, all consuming panic which the soldiers feel when they notice the gas shells. This is effective because it is a complete contrast to the image of the soldiers before the shell, at first they were trudging on, "drunk with fatigue"(7), but are suddenly forced into an "ecstasy of fumbling"(9) by the falling of the gas shell. The description of the gas masks as "clumsy helmets"(10) tells us that the equipment given to the soldiers is heavy and substandard. Owen then describes one member of the platoon who was not quick enough in fitting his mask, and is now yelling out in pain and stumbling around. Owen describes himself as looking at the man "as under a green sea"(14). The dying man is said to be "drowning"(14). By the use of this word we are reminded that the mustard gas from the shells corrodes the lungs, so not only is he being deprived of air, he is drowning in his own bodily fluids. Stanza 3 goes on to describe how the ghastly picture of the poor soldier who is flung in to a wagon and trundled back to base haunts him. Owen and his comrades know that there is no hope for their friend's survival, but despite the fact that they would be fleeing the hazard of the gas, their sense of humanity and mutual concern will not allow them to abandon their comrade. They load his body into a lorry and walk along, unable to stop his suffe
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Approximate Word count = 1391
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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