‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
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; Irony
Sound Devices
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Figures of Speech
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Punctuation
Diction: Horrors of war
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets 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.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
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.
, Biographical Information:
‘Dulce’ describes a real experience during WW1 when the poet’s battalion was attacked
with chlorine gas.
• Owen enlisted in the British army in 1915 and was sent to the Western Front in
France in December 1916.
• Initially he thought war was honourable; heroic; glorified but soon became
disillusioned by the cruelty, inhumanity, and devastation of the war. Especially, the
senseless and meaningless deaths of soldiers in the most gruesome way possible
under the most inhumane conditions.
• He died in 1918, in action, just one week before Armistice.
• The poem was published posthumously in 1920.
Meaning/Message:
• Owen explores the meaningless/futility/inhumanity/pity of war.
• Reveals the horrific realities endured by the soldiers as a means of challenging the
lies of war as being a heroic/noble fight bringing glory to all who fight or die.
• He is highly critical of war and the suffering it brings as well as the government who
sat back.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/Diction:
• Grotesque descriptions of war emphasises the horrors, inhumanity, and suffering
that it brings.
Structure:
• Regular rhyme scheme: Predictability of war.
• Irregular stanza length and use of punctuation.
→ Psychological and physical breakdown of the soldiers.
→ Dramatic pauses emphasises the horror, fear, panic, anger.
• Rhythm varies to show the chaos of war and how quickly the scene on the battlefield
can change.
Tone/Mood:
Gruesome; critical; panicked; sombre; sad; bitter; resentful.
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; Irony
Sound Devices
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Figures of Speech
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Punctuation
Diction: Horrors of war
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets 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.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
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.
, Biographical Information:
‘Dulce’ describes a real experience during WW1 when the poet’s battalion was attacked
with chlorine gas.
• Owen enlisted in the British army in 1915 and was sent to the Western Front in
France in December 1916.
• Initially he thought war was honourable; heroic; glorified but soon became
disillusioned by the cruelty, inhumanity, and devastation of the war. Especially, the
senseless and meaningless deaths of soldiers in the most gruesome way possible
under the most inhumane conditions.
• He died in 1918, in action, just one week before Armistice.
• The poem was published posthumously in 1920.
Meaning/Message:
• Owen explores the meaningless/futility/inhumanity/pity of war.
• Reveals the horrific realities endured by the soldiers as a means of challenging the
lies of war as being a heroic/noble fight bringing glory to all who fight or die.
• He is highly critical of war and the suffering it brings as well as the government who
sat back.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/Diction:
• Grotesque descriptions of war emphasises the horrors, inhumanity, and suffering
that it brings.
Structure:
• Regular rhyme scheme: Predictability of war.
• Irregular stanza length and use of punctuation.
→ Psychological and physical breakdown of the soldiers.
→ Dramatic pauses emphasises the horror, fear, panic, anger.
• Rhythm varies to show the chaos of war and how quickly the scene on the battlefield
can change.
Tone/Mood:
Gruesome; critical; panicked; sombre; sad; bitter; resentful.
