Dulce Et Decorum Est

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

Wilfred Owen was killed in action on 4 November 1918 exactly one week (almost to the hour) before the signing of the Armistice, which ended the First World War.
His mother received the telegram informing her of his death on Armistice Day, as the church bells were ringing out in celebration.

Question 2

Themes and links

Answer 2

Suffering & war - mametz wood , Manhunt

Patriotism - soldier

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

This poem doesn’t follow a specific traditional form. It consists of four stanzas. The first is 8 lines long, the second 6, the third 2, and the fourth 12. There might be a hidden reference to the sonnet in this structure. A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines in iambic pentameter and this poem has 28 lines—exactly twice as many. The first 14 lines of the poem (stanza 1 and 2) tell a story, while the second 14 (stanza 3 and 4) analyze that story from the present tense. These two parts of the poem could be read as a pair of broken sonnets, though their rhyme scheme does not align with the traditional sonnet format.

Question 4

Title

Answer 4

It is sweet and honourable to die for your country- ironic as the soldiers were dehumanised and describes as ‘beggars’

Question 5

Imagery/language

Answer 5

Sense of suffering and suffocation

Imageries of a gaseous war zone

Question 6

Writers intention

Answer 6

Ironic nature of war