Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Essay

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Analysis of the Great War Poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” In the twentieth century poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” Wilfred Owen tells the story of the great traumatic experiences that soldiers fighting in World War I were forced to undergo. Through his own personal and traumatic experience from the war, Owen seeks to convince the audience that the horrors of war far outweigh the patriotic cliché, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” In just four stanzas, Owen brings his story to life with his astonishing and rich imagery, incredible word choice and use of metaphors, and shifting between first, second, and third person narratives. In the first stanza, Owen sets the scene of the poem by giving the audience the setting and a detailed description…show more content…
The image of his dying fellow solider is one that will never leave the narrator’s thoughts and it is at this point in the poem where the most horror is seen. In line 16, the narrator describes his dream in present tense using the words, “guttering, chocking, [and] drowning” (16). The present tense of the narrator’s dream gives the reader a real insight on how the narrator is forced to relive his horrible experience over and over again when he sleeps. It also suggests that although the dream is an illusion, to the narrator it is a reality. Critic, Tyrus Miller, mentions that Owen reinforces this sense of identity of dream and reality in his only departure from his strict alternating rhyme scheme. In the third stanza, rather than rhyming with the word "drowning" in line 14 from the previous stanza, Owen repeats the word "drowning," thus implying that this scene must recur over and over again without…show more content…
Owen begins, angrily wishing that those individuals at home could experience the horrific traumas of the war and be haunted by dreams like his own. Although Owen can’t literally bring these taunting horrors about, through his poem and all of its gruesome details, he can force his readers to confront the ugly reality of the war that hides behind their glorious versions of it. He tries to make it clear to them that nothing about fighting in war is fine and fitting, and he does this by depicting vivid images like, a soldiers face “hanging” like a “devil’s sick of sin” and blood “gargling,” coming from his “corrupted lungs.” Lastly, towards the end of the poem, Owen calls the people at home liars and hypocrites, and this is suggested when he says, “the old Lie.” He also, directs his attention to a “friend” which is extremely ironic considering none that none of those people were his friends. However, critic, David Daiches, notes that in that moment, Owen could have been referring to specific poet, Jessie Pope, who at the time was famous for writing recruiting poems during the Great War. Nonetheless, Owen manages to establish his main point by ending his poem with the phrase, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria
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