Dulce et Decorum Est

1. Dulce et Decorum Est By Amber Wetzel and Ella McClarnon

2. Historical Context • Wilfred Owens • Born/ raised in England • enlisted in WW1 in 1915 • several injuries put him in a hospital- met many influential people • shot and killed in war 1 week before armistice was signed • World War 1 • The "Chemists War"- New technologies

3. Title • “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” means "it is sweet and right to die for one's country". • The title, an apparently common phrase to boost morale (so assumed to be familiar to the reader), is used only at the end under the label of “the old lie” • The title is ironic in that the author is suggesting through the poem that it is not honorable to die for ones country

4. Poetry Reading Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. 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 tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind Bent over, knees spread desperately for balance, coughing hard, we trudged through the sludge miserably. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, but limped onward, covered in blood. All were handicapped or made blind, drunk with hunger, deaf even to the sound of falling gas shells behind.

5. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmet just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning Gas! Quick, boys!- A frenzy of fumbling, barely getting gas masks on in time to avoid the gas. One person didn't get theirs on in time and is yelling and flailing like he’s on fire. Through the small windows of the gasp mask and the green fog of the chlorine gas, I saw him dying.

6. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. I see him often in my dreams, I helplessly watch as he dies in front of me.

7. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 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, -- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. If in your nightmares you also could follow the wagon we flung his body in and watch his eyes writhing in pain, his tired face. You could hear, at every jolt of the wagon, blood come gargling up from his lungs, like a disease. If you saw and heard all this, you would not patriotically tell glory-wanting children the lie: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”

8. Themes • Unlike the old latin motto, war is not a beautiful or glorious;it is miserable and mortifying This is shown through the whole poem; the descriptions of terrible injuries, tired soldiers, and unending wariness and fear give no resemblance to honorable, proud patriots. • Because war is so terrible, children should not be encouraged to go to war and lose their lives. This extends into another theme through the last stanza, the line “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie”.

9. Connotation Melody: Use of the muted “t” consonant sound in the line slows down the reader’s pace, making them feel the trudging described in the line. Rhythm: The poem is loosely iambic pentameter, but breaks frequently on purpose. • slowly disintegrates as poem continues, eventually nowhere to be seen in last line • relates to readers growing difficulty to understand horrors of war • Various forms of rhythm, through punctuation with periods, commas, and semicolons, also work to change how lines are read, often to add a limping or dramatic, isolated feel. • As iambic pentameter breaks, it creates a rushed sense and adds to the setting being established. Imagery: Similes transform war scenes into more easily imagined, but just as horrific, images. “Andtowards our distant rest began to trudge.” first-"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" vs. last-"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. " “like old beggars under sacs” “coughing like hags” “like a man on fire” “like a devil’s sick of sin” “obscene as cancer”

10. Shift “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering,choking, drowning.” A shift occurs after the second stanza. The third stanza is a couplet while the rest are 6-12 lines long. • emphasises third stanza and subject matter. It makes the reader • feel in the moment with the author and stop to comprehend that is happening. • more realistic • helps the reader sympathize with author • Adds to vividness Another shift can be seen in the fourth stanza when the author shifts from the use of personal pronouns of me/we to you. • shifts to the audience • changes tone to more accusatory • makes audience directly confront issues (Stanza 2 Line 6) As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. (Stanza 4 Line 1) If in some smothering dreams you too could pace (Stanza 3)

11. Attitude (tone) This poem in a way has two tones, as it switches purpose in the fourth stanza. In the first section of the poem, the tone is one of grievance, or a wariness of the past. This is shown in the painful, miserable descriptions of the war and the soldiers. At the fourth stanza, this wariness continues, but gains a cynical or accusatory tone as the reader is forced to compare their ideas of war with the reality presented to them. (This cynicalness reflects the modernist tendency for satire and questioning authority and old ideas.)

12. Modernism • Written in 1917 (Middle of WWI) • Seen in • Setting • WWI • Questioning Values • Leadership/government, meaning of war • Defies common feelings of patriotism • My friend, you would not tell with such high zest/To children ardent for some desperate glory, • Disillusionment with death • And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, /His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; /If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, /Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud • Satire • cynical tone

13. Form The poem is an ode. It expresses deep thought on a serious topic, war. Purpose The poem has a dual purpose matching its tones; it originally expresses an emotional experience (trench warfare in WW1, and the memory of one man who didn’t escape the chlorine gas on time), but at the end uses this experience to make the reader reflect on life, especially the morality and meaning of war.

14. Bibliography Brookshire, Sophia. "Analysis of Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est"." Yahoo! Voices (2009): n.pag. Yahoo! Voices. Web. 25 Apr 2013. http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-wilfred-owens-dulce-et-decorum-est-4289627.html?cat=42 Holt, , Rinehart, and Winston. Elements of Literature Sixth Course Essentials of British and World Literature. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2005. 820-822. Print Shmoop Editorial Team. Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. http://www.shmoop.com/dulce-et-decorum-est/rhyme-form-meter.html http://www.shmoop.com/dulce-et-decorum-est/stanza-1-summary.html