Dulce Et Decrum Est Essay, Research Paper

INTRODUCTIONIn the

poem, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen, the social climate of the World

War I era is reflected through the poet’s use of vivid imagery and poetic

techniques. The poem itself presents an a blunt impression of the world through

its linking of ideas and language in its text. The poem addresses the

falsehood, that war is glorious, that it is noble, it describes the true horror

and waste that is war, with the aim of changing the way in which society thinks

about conflict. THE POEMS

MEANING TO METhe poem

epitomises the futility and pointlessness of war. Not only is war a shocking

waste of life, but it is ultimately barbarous and pointless act as World War I

so horrendously demonstrated to the world powers. The graphic horror of war is

presented through a series of images which are designed to demolish the notion

of war being a patriotic and meaningful adventure. The one particularly vivid

image that got to me was that of the lone soldier who doesn’t fasten his mask

fast enough and suffers from the full effects of deadly gas: ‘In all my

dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges

at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’ And then: ‘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.’ Owen

generates two powerful images aimed at discouraging the mere thought of war by

its emotionally distressing descriptions. The way in which Owen moved the

images from a general concept to personal illustration by addressing the reader

directly, ‘If you could hear’ indicated that I must place myself in this

situation, and evoke the setting and all the associated emotions in my mind as

I were in fact witnessing this event first hand. Perhaps to feel the emotions

as Owen would himself. The poet helps this by precisely describing the

surroundings and encouraging particularly sinister and dark emotions to

surface. The vivid similes: ‘obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,’ encourage a

sickening reaction to the notion of actively engaging in battle. The idea of

cancer represents the ‘terminal’ results and finality of war. Owen suggests

that men who are sent to fight are being sent to their death; something as

inevitable as death from cancer. The slow and painful death associated with

cancer is likened to dying on the battlefield where those who aren’t killed

instantly are left to suffer horribly. Just like Owen’s gassed soldier. The

futility of war is shown in the first part of the poem where we see the

soldiers, fatigued and wounded, returning to base camp when a gas attack is

launched on them: ‘Men

marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped

on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with

fatigue; deaf even to the hoots… Gas! Gas!

Quick boys! The slow

and steady movement of time felt whilst reading the beginning of this extract

is due to the subdued and disheartening attitude of the soldiers. The placement

of words directly reflects the fatigue felt by the weary boys. The image of

them marching slowly, bloody and ‘drunk’, evokes similar feelings of tiredness

in the reader which are quickly interrupted by ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’. These

last few words of the passage come across as though one of the soldiers is

saying them, even though it is the persona trying to communicate a message of

cautiousness to the soldiers and at the same time reinforce the reality of

these events to the reader. As a reader I feel the relative stillness of the men’s

quiet attitude being quickly interrupted by these ‘loud’ words. A contrast is

established. This image, and the one of the lone soldier dying ‘awakens’ the

minds of the people who read the poem to the reality of war as being a

terrifyingly sad way for young people to die, and that ideology of patriotism

and honour is the cause of such sickening circumstance. Owen is, effectively,

placing the blame of the war’s consequences squarely on the shoulders of the

society that supports it. LANGUAGE

AND TECHNIQUESThe

language in this poem is quite simple yet vivid, encouraging the reader to

understand the situation and to be emotionally ‘awakened’ in the process. In

particular, Owen wants to bring home the realities of war to the ‘boffins’ as

well as the relatively sheltered public. By his use of simple language, Owen

overcomes the social barriers of class and education that existed at the time.

Thus he allows the message to reach and be understood by a large cross section

of the public. By his use of these vivid, descriptive images, Owen allows those

who aren’t used to analysing literature in depth to clearly identify the

central anti-war themes of the poem, and to identify that war is a pointless

waste of life. This is especially relevant for the British society of the time

who generally viewed war as a patriotic and a heroic forum to display national

unity and pride. Owen brings these general conceptions onto a shockingly

personal level.There are

many poetic techniques used by Owen which encourage and support the main

challenge to the typical attitudes of the time. He uses similes such as, ‘Bent

double, like old beggars under sacks,’ and, ‘obscene as cancer, bitter as the

cud,’ to familiarise the situation to the reader and to focus on the repulsive

truth of war. These similes simplify the theme of his poem without reducing its

effect, and make the poem easier to understand. This reflects the views of the

World War I society where there was a need for such anti-war messages,

especially when there were people placed in high social classes who supported

the war. The alliteration of the letter ’s’ such as in ’sick of sin’ also works

well to this anti-war message as the ’s’ sound is usually identified to stealth

and maliciousness. The hyphen joining compound epithets ‘knock-kneed’ and

‘blood-shod’, where we again see the use of alliteration, describe the physical

condition of the soldiers quickly and effectively, and allowing the reader to

easily picture the soldiers in their mind. These techniques work together to

easily present the themes to the public in an understandable way.The

graphic horror of war is presented through a series of images which are

designed to demolish the notion of war being a patriotic and meaningful

adventure. One particularly vivid image is that of the lone soldier who doesn’t

fasten his mask fast enough and suffers from the effects of the deadly gas: ‘In all my

dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges

at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’ And then: ‘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.’ These two

images powerfully discourage the mere thought of war by terrifying the reader

through emotionally frightening descriptions. Owen moves the images from a

general concept to personal illustration by addressing the reader directly

through saying, ‘If you could hear’. Now, it is indicated to the reader that

they must place themselves in this situation, and evoke the setting and all

associated emotions in their mind that a person witnessing this event would

feel, perhaps like Owen himself. The poet helps by precisely describing the

surroundings and encouraging particularly dark feelings to arise. The vivid

similes: ‘obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,’ encourage a sickening reaction

to the notion of actively engaging in battle. The idea of cancer represents the

‘terminal’ results or the finality of war. Owen suggests that men who are sent

to fight are being sent to their death; something as inevitable as death from

cancer. The slow and painful death associated with cancer is likened to dying

on the battlefield where those who aren’t killed instantly are left to suffer

horribly. Like the gassed soldier. The futility of war is shown in the first

part of the poem where we see the soldiers, fatigued and wounded, returning to

base camp when a gas attack is launched on them: ‘Men

marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped

on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with

fatigue; deaf even to the hoots… Gas! Gas!

Quick boys! The slow

and steady movement of time felt whilst reading the beginning of this extract

is due to the subdued and disheartening attitude of the soldiers. The placement

of words directly reflects the fatigue felt by the weary soldiers. The image of

them marching slowly, bloody and ‘drunk’, evokes similar feelings of tiredness

in the reader which are quickly interrupted by ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’. These

last few words of the passage are designed as though one of the soldiers is

saying them, even though it is the persona trying to communicate a message of

cautiousness to the soldiers and at the same time reinforce the reality of

these events to the reader. We feel the relative stillness of the men’s quiet

attitude being quickly interrupted by these ‘loud’ words and it seems as if

time was one of the boys; sullen and weary, then suddenly activated and alert.

A contrast is established. This image, and the one of the lone soldier dying

‘awakens’ the minds of the people who read the poem to the reality of war as

being a terrifyingly sad way for young people to die, and that ideology of

patriotism and honour is the cause of such sickening circumstance. Owen is,

effectively, placing the blame of the war’s consequences squarely on the

shoulders of the society that supports it. CONCLUSION!Wilfred

Owen’s extremely powerful poem, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ thoroughly criticises

the ideology of war being ‘a sweet and glorious way to die, fighting for one’s

country’. The combination of vivid imagery and poetic devices work to evoke a

horrible anti-war feeling in the reader and encourage them to act and cease the

on-going violence in the world. With powerful imagery and simple language, Owen

allows the poem to be understood by the public at large so as to influence as

many people as possible. The power of ideology is revealed and skilfully

condemned by Owen’s masterful writing of poetry and war is appropriately

presented as the hideous thing it is.?