Compare And Contrast: “Dead Man’s Dump” By Rosenberg And “dulce Et Decorum Est”
By Owen Essay, Research Paper

Compare and Contrast: “Dead Man’s Dump” by Rosenberg and “dulce et Decorum est”

by Owen

In the poems “Dead Man’s Dump” by Isaac Rosenberg and “Dulce et Decorum

est” by Wilfred Owen the main concern of these poets is to relay the theme of

death. They want to let the reader feel the action, to see it with there own

eyes. Both stories portray realistic imagery in many ways. The conflict that

the dying soldier goes through in Rosenberg’s poem and the struggle that the

soldier has lunging for his mask in Owen’s poem shows death as imagery

In “Dead Man’s Dump,” you see the wheels of a truck crushing bones

already perished. “The wheels lurched over the sprawling dead,” they are

driving over a battle field to pick up the survivors. The drivers of the truck

are playing the role of God, by coming and saving the soldier’s from death.

Another reference to God in the same poem is when Rosenberg refers to the

“limbers,” wheels of a cannon being pulled, carrying the dead as “Stuck out like

many crowns of thorns,” symbolizing Jesus’s crown of thorns that he wore at his

crucifixion. Finally they hear a sound, one of the soldier is still alive. He

begs the cavalry to hasten their search and find him. The troops hear him and

begin to come barreling around the bend only to hear the dying soldier murmur

his last screams. In “Dulce,” the regiment are tired and marching like “old

hags” because they are fatigued. As the enemy discovers them they attack by

dropping a gas bomb on the men. As they scatter for their masks one man doesn’t

quite make it. He goes through an agonizing process of dying. Like the

soldier in Rosenberg’s poem his cries out for his troops, his friends, to help

him. To no avail does he get any help and the whole squad is forced watching

his excruciating process of death.

In both of these poems death comes, but in two different forms. In

“Dulce” death is the gas that is thrown upon them. In “Dead Man’s Dump” death

are the wheels of the truck that go crushing everything in its path. The main

part of the poem that shows this is when the soldier is cries out to the living

to come and save him. They dash off in search of the soldier only to make it

just as he is slipping into death’s hands. The last few lines of the poem read,

“We heard his last sound, and our wheels grazed his dead face.” Earlier in the

poem the wheels had been crushing bones like they were death taking all of these

lives. In “Dulce” death comes in a form of gas, yet it only claims one life.

The gas is referred to as “a sea of green.” The author points out that he

seemed to be drowning in the sea. Unlike Jesus and in a sense his fellow

troops who walked on water he was drowning. He has been chosen by death to

leave this world only to be whisked to his next.

These poems are similar to each other in the since that they both happen

in a time of war and they are soldiers. The difference of the two poems is the

main focus. When you read “Dead Man’s Dump” and you visualize it, not just read

it you see a battle field that is destroyed by war. Bodies lay everywhere. The

way the author describes the gruesome detail of the dead troops, “A man’s brains

splattered on a stretcher-bearers face;” one can literally see the guts.

Rosenberg uses spectacular imagery in that piece. The general picture that

Rosenberg tries to get across to the reader is that of the bodies just lying

around all over the ground. Carnage exists everywhere the reader can imagine.

The big picture is death, but Owens places specific detail on the soldiers’

wounds and the sounds of the poem. Bones crunching by the wagon looking for

survivors. Wounded soldiers yelling for the wagon to come and rescue them from

dying. In “Dulce” the main point Owen tries to relay to his readers is how

silly it is to die for your country. The poet places particular imagery on a

few aspects in particular: the gas, the clumsy soldier, and the fatigue. The

reader can see the soldier’s trudging down a dirt path, not muttering a sound

because they are practically asleep. As if given from God himself a gas bomb is

drops upon them. All of a sudden they are back alive scrambling for their masks.

You can see the gas start to rise as it dispenses. All of the infantrymen have

found their masks except one. The reader can see the gas start to take its

toll on the soldier, “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, as

under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” Owen then goes into detail about the

dead soldier is vivid as he talks about blood gargling from his lungs and his

eyes writhes in his face. Many can tell you about a war and how horrid it was,

but few can put you in the war itself for you to experience.

Both poems deal with someone dying and not being able to be saved. In

“Dead Man’s Dump” the soldier at the end of the poem begs for the wagon to come

pick him up, yet they get to him just as he takes his last breath. In “Dulce”

the soldier that didn’t find his mask is implores the soldier who tells the

story to help him. Even though he dies right in front of him there can’t be

anything done to save him. This is like having the answer to life, but not

being able to use it because the dying soldier is right in front of him, but if

he’s gives him his own mask he will die himself. This is why Owen’s tries to

tell us that it is not honorable to die in battle.

These poems are similar, yet they do have some differences. The both

want to get across the same idea, but use different ways. The vivid narration

of these poems is what makes these poems unique. What better way to convince

someone that what the reader believe is the right way than to make them go

through the experience too. War is wrong and the way that Owens tell his

reasons why there is no way a person could disagree. Although Rosenberg

concentrates more on the dying process the soldier has to go through to die

(war), it is not the way a man should perish. The reader finishes these poems

with a sense of agreement that no one should die like these men died.