Bent double = hunched and slumped
“Dulce et Decorum Est” “B” alliteration
Knock-kneed = exhausted
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, “K” alliteration
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, Sludge = mud
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Flares = weapon to light up area
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, Distant rest = camp
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Trudge = drag feet
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots “M” alliteration
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Shod = wearing shoes
Walking with fatigue
Didn’t hear the gas being dropped
! = sense of warning, awareness and
emergency
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Boys = young
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, Ecstasy = mad and crazy
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling Sense of horror
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— Floundering = hands flying
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, Misty panes = windows aka lenses
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. Green sea = metaphor (comparing gas and
sea)
Drowning = extended metaphor and lungs
filling with fluid
Standing alone emphasises it.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight, Helpless sight = personification
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Theme of haunting and memories.
This is an image that haunts him.
In the war, you built extreme friendships,
therefore this is excruciating to watch.
Shows the personal effect of this scene on
the speaker.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Addresses the reader
Behind the wagon that we flung him in, Smothering dreams = nightmares
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, You too = wants you to visualize
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; Flung = lack of respect for human life in war
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood White eyes = eyes flip back (symptom)
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Devil sick of sin = couldn’t recognise him
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Froth-corrupted lungs = asphyxiation
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— Cancer = horrible
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest Innocent tongues = personification and
To children ardent for some desperate glory, metonymy (also shows how young and
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est innocent the boys were)
Pro patria mori. Last 4 lines: said with irony and bitterness
He is poking at propaganda and addressing
the government/people staring war
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori = it is
sweet and fitting to die for one’s country
“Dulce et Decorum Est” “B” alliteration
Knock-kneed = exhausted
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, “K” alliteration
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, Sludge = mud
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Flares = weapon to light up area
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, Distant rest = camp
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Trudge = drag feet
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots “M” alliteration
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Shod = wearing shoes
Walking with fatigue
Didn’t hear the gas being dropped
! = sense of warning, awareness and
emergency
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Boys = young
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, Ecstasy = mad and crazy
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling Sense of horror
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— Floundering = hands flying
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, Misty panes = windows aka lenses
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. Green sea = metaphor (comparing gas and
sea)
Drowning = extended metaphor and lungs
filling with fluid
Standing alone emphasises it.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight, Helpless sight = personification
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Theme of haunting and memories.
This is an image that haunts him.
In the war, you built extreme friendships,
therefore this is excruciating to watch.
Shows the personal effect of this scene on
the speaker.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Addresses the reader
Behind the wagon that we flung him in, Smothering dreams = nightmares
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, You too = wants you to visualize
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; Flung = lack of respect for human life in war
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood White eyes = eyes flip back (symptom)
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Devil sick of sin = couldn’t recognise him
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Froth-corrupted lungs = asphyxiation
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— Cancer = horrible
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest Innocent tongues = personification and
To children ardent for some desperate glory, metonymy (also shows how young and
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est innocent the boys were)
Pro patria mori. Last 4 lines: said with irony and bitterness
He is poking at propaganda and addressing
the government/people staring war
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori = it is
sweet and fitting to die for one’s country
