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Dulce Et Decorum Est. By Wilfred Owen. The tone of the poem is sombre , dark, and serious.
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Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen
The tone of the poem is sombre, dark, and serious. • 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 are described as old beggars and hags. • They walk through mud with great difficulty
The imagery is stark and violent • But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime9. . . Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. • Owen describes a gas attack a green sea. • Owen describes men as drowning in the gas.
The rhyme scheme is consistantab,ab and adds to the impact of the poem • 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; • 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. • The consistent rhyme pattern of the poem adds a punchy feeling to the poem. • The punchy feeling is especially felt as it highlights the ending message.
Similes are used to paint a dark and violent picture • And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; • Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues • The face looks as horrible as the devil’s face who is tired of seeing sin. • What he sees is horrible like cancer or like the pus oozing from wounds on a tongue.
The theme is made clear in the last two stanzas “nobility in war is a lie” and “War is horrible” • 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; • My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13 To children ardent14 for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum estPro patria mori. • If you did not die a horrible death like this one, then you surely saw it. Owen describes what he saw while he was a soldier. Unfortunately, he also died as a soldier in WWI. • The Latin phrase (popular before WWI) means “It is sweet and noble to die for your country”. Earlier, the poet describes a more accurate view of what war really looks like.
Theme – continued • The lie • The truth
