“Dulce et Decorum Est” Wilfred Owen

1. “Dulce et Decorum Est”Wilfred Owen 1883-1918

2. Wilfred Owen. • Born in Shropshire in 1883. • Became interested in poetry and music at an early age • Went to France to teach English. • Was in France when the war broke out. • Returned to England to volunteer for service.

3. Wilfred Owen • What do these statements tell us about Owen’s feelings regarding the war? • Explain your answer. • Would you regard Owen as an Anti-war or Pro War poet? “The people of England needn’t hope. They must agitate.“ “ I do now most intensely want to fight.” “I hate washy pacifists."

4. You are now going to find out more about Owen • Sent to the battle field in 1916. Sent to the Somme sector to begin with and then to the Hindenburg line. • A shell exploded close by him and left him severely shell shocked. He was sent back to England to recover. • Upon his return his view of war began to change. • He became very critical of armchair patriots

5. In your pairs discuss….. • What is a Patriot? • Once you have discussed this point decide on what you think an arm chair patriot is.

6. Look at the list of titles opposite. These are all titles of poems that Owen wrote after he was injured during the war. What do these titles suggest about Owen’s feelings towards the war at that stage? Has his opinion of War changed? Why do you think this is? Mental Cases Anthem for Doomed Youth Disabled Futility Insensibility Wilfred Owen

7. More about Owen • Owen was sent to Craiglock Hospital to be treated for shell shock. • By day the hospital was a relatively pleasant place but at night the atmosphere changed • The patients were tormented by their experiences and Owen was woken up frequently by the screams of the men around him. • Some symptoms of shell shock: • Mental Trauma • Anxiety • Hallucinations • Facial/ Body tics

8. Wilfred Owen • Once Owen recovered he was sent out to fight once more. • He was sent to the front line and was killed in action on 4th November 1918. A week later the war ended. • His family received notification of his death on the 11th of November, the day the war ended.

10. Watch the following rendition of the poem and listen carefully.

11. Context

13. Why wasn’t it ‘over by Christmas…’? • Developments in technology and modern warfare • One million grenades coming out of munitions factories every week • British soldiers were outnumbered, badly equipped and unprepared • Trench warfare created deadlock where very little ground was made. • Awful conditions

14. 13,000 men in 2 days, Flanders, March 1915 • 60,000 men in 14 days. Battle of Loos, 1915 • 60,000 men in 1 day, Battle of the Somme, 1916: more than the Crimean War, Boer War and Korean War combined

15. Wilfred Owen • Born 1893 • Died November 4th, 1918 • Killed in action, just a week before war ended. • News of his death reached his mother just as the town’s church bells were ringing for victory at the end of the war. • One of the war’s most famous poets for speaking out against the death and destruction it brought.

16. DULCE ET DECORUM ESTWilfred Owen

17. What is this poem about?

18. The title- Dulce et Decorum Est • Taken from a Latin saying meaning ‘It is sweet and right (to die for your country)’- in other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to die for your country. • This was widely quoted at the beginning of the war and poems like Pope’s ‘Who’s for the Game’ reflected this idea.

19. Is this sweet? Is this right? Is this fitting? • With mustard gas the effects did not become apparent for up to twelve hours. But then it began to rot the body, within and without. •The skin blistered, the eyes became extremely painful and nausea and vomiting began. •Worse, the gas attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucus membrane. •The pain was almost beyond endurance and most victims had to be strapped to their beds. •Death took up to four or five weeks.

21. Starter Activity • Summarise the main idea/event of each of the stanzas in the poem in just one sentence. • E.g In Stanza 3Owen tells of his recurring nightmares from watching the man die slowly.

22. Learning Intentions To enjoy and understand the poem To learn about poet techniques

23. Success Criteria To show that you have understood the techniques in the poem you will have to Answer the questions on the worksheet fully Use your own words to answer the questions

24. Activity 1Paired Activity • Owen uses lots of powerful imagery and similes to describe the soldiers. • Choose 2 examples from your sheet on similes and fill in the answers fully using your own words

25. DULCE ET DECORUM EST Bent double, likeold beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flareswe turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOftired, outstripped bombsthat dropped behind.

27. GAS! Gas!Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmetsjust in time;

28. Activity 2 • What is the impact of ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’ • Owen describes the soldiers putting their gas masks on as ‘an ecstasy of fumbling’. Why does he use the word ‘ecstasy’?

29. But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd floundering like a man in fire or lime.Dim, through the misty panes and thick green lightAs under a green sea,I saw him drowning.In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning

30. Activity 3 • What is Owen describing here? • What is the effect of words like ‘guttering, choking, drowning.’?

31. If in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind 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 bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--

32. Why does Owen describe his dreams as ‘smothering’? What is the impact of using the word ‘flung’? This is a description of a man after a gas attack, as his lungs are slowly eaten away. Which ugly words and comparisons describe this? Who do you think Owen is addressing here when he says ‘If you could hear’? Activity 4

33. My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori. (It is sweet and just to die for your country).

34. Activity 5 • What is the tone of these final lines? • How do you feel about this poem and what do you think its final message is?

35. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we curse 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; blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

36. 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. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

37. 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,

38. 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.