Dulce et Decorum Est Flashcards
introduction
- 1917 and published after his death in 1920.
- this war poem graphically portrays the horrors of war on the front line, detailing the agonising death of a soldier after a gas attack.
- the content of the poem is in stark contrast with its Latin title, which means, “It is fitting and sweet to die for one’s country”.
form
- an anti-war protest poem
- four stanzas of varying length ; the first two in the form of a sonnet
- the deliberate disruption to a traditional poem form, with varied stanza and line lengths reinforces the chaos and horror of battle
- iambic pentameter
- by using the first person, Owen compels the reader to envision witnessing the harrowing events described
rhythm and rhyme
- inconsistent rhythm
- alternate rhyme scheme - mirrors the soldiers marching
- stanza one maintains a consistent rhyme scheme, connoting an orderliness and discipline as the soldiers march.
- this pattern is interrupted in the second and third stanzas, reflecting the chaotic scene
structure
- focused on 2 line stanza at the heart of the poem - separated stanza
- death is at the heart of war
- emphasises that seeing fellow soldiers die or drown is something which stands out in his mind
enjambment
- continuing the lines without a break
- mirrors the long journey ahead of the soldiers
- tired
caesurae
- inconsistent pace - stop-start journey of the soldiers
‘Gas!Gas!’
- repetition
- sense of urgency and panic
- brutal
short lines
- reflective of the lives that were cut short
finish the quote: ‘bent double..
…like old beggars under sacks’
‘bent double like old beggars under sacks’
- creates the possibility that the soldiers have become 2 people now
- the people they were before vs now
- effects of war
- similes portray a negative, yet realistic view of war
finish the quote: ‘knock-kneed..
..coughing like hags’
‘knock-kneed, coughing like hags’
- they are young men and have been compared to old hags
- women
- war has emasculated and dehumanised them
- emphasis on how weak and broken war has left the soldiers
finish the quote: ‘like a man..
..in fire or lime’
finish the quote: ‘as under..
..a green sea’
‘like a man in fire or lime’
‘as under a green sea’
- triadic structure of similes amplifies the sense of suffering
finish the quote: ‘clumsy..
…helmets’
‘clumsy helmets’
- personification
- soldiers weren’t expecting a gas attack - presenting the unpredictability of war
finish the quote: ‘white eyes..
..writhing’
finish the quote: ‘froth-corrupted…
..lungs’
‘white eyes writhing’
‘froth-corrupted lungs’
- graphic, violent imagery
finish the quote: ‘blood-
…shod’
‘blood-shod’
- feet are bloody
- soldiers are wearing shoes made out of their own dried blood
- brutality of war
finish the quote : ‘he plunges at me..
…guttering, choking, drowning’
‘he plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning’
- present continuous verbs
- this event is repeatedly playing out in the narrator’s imagination
- cannot be escaped and effects him in the present
title
- ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’
- the title expresses a patriotic pro-war sentiment
- expect the poem to be positive of fighting in war
- Owen subverts expectations and uses the phrase in an ironic way -> first hand experience of horrors of war
finish the quote: ‘my friend..
..you would not tell with such high zest’
‘my friend, you would not tell with such high zest’
- pronoun use
- ‘you’ vs ‘we’ -> directed to the pro-war supporters at home and soldiers fighting
- intended audience
- Jessie Pope - brutal language of the poem suggesting that war is not a “game” - it is deadly
finish the quote: ‘we..
..flung him in’
‘we flung him in’
- loss of respect
- dehumanised
finish the quote: ‘gas shells..
..dropping softly behind’
‘dropping softly’
- oxymoron
- highlights their exhaustion - the world makes no sense
finish the quote: ‘all went lame;
all blind’
‘all went lame; all blind’
- widespread suffering
‘trudge’
‘marched asleep’
‘limped’
‘lame’
‘drunk’
‘fatigue’
- semantic field of exhaustion
- to reject traditional images of heroism found in war poetry
- realistic depiction of war
‘lame’
‘blind’
‘deaf’
- extreme disability
- universal - ‘all went lame;all blind’ -> no one escapes
finish the quote: ‘an ectasy of..
…fumbling’
finish the quote: ‘yelling out..
..and stumbling’
finish the quote: ‘flound’ring..
..like a man in fire or lime’
‘fumbling’
‘stumbling’
‘flound’ring’
- they were unprepared
finish the quote: ‘the old Lie…
… :Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria mori.’
‘the old Lie : Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria mori.’
- Owen rejects the pro-war sentiment with authority - he has seen people die for their country and is aware of how excruciating and horrific it is
- uses Latin - men had no idea what this was about - working class didn’t know Latin
mood and tone
- critical - ‘the old Lie’
- negative - war is difficult - ‘cursed through sludge’ ; war is deadly - ‘drowning’ ; war is disgusting - ‘bitter as the cud’
- ominous tone - in ‘all my dreams’ - the determiner ‘all’ -> haunting - it plagues ‘all’ of their dreams - they cannot escape
- Wilfred Owen experienced shell-shock - ‘smothering dreams’ - violent and suffocating
key quotations for the horrors of war
“Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind”
“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”
“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs”
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR THE HORRORS OF WAR
“Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind”
“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”
“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs”
The metaphor “Drunk with fatigue” highlights the severity of the soldiers’ exhaustion; the word “softly” accentuates the physical and psychological fatigue. The largely consistent rhythm and rhyme scheme of the first stanza conveys a sense of order, but its inconsistency perhaps mirrors the soldiers’ limping movements
The abrupt exclamation reflects the soldiers’ panic, contrasting with the weary trudging of the previous stanza. Caesura creates tension and a pause in the poem as the men grapple with their gas masks, disrupting the rhythm to reflect the chaos. Enjambment quickens the pace, heightening the sense of panic
The speaker compels the reader to visualise the scenes through the second person “you”. Through onomatopoeia the poem vividly portrays the physicality and gruesomeness of the soldier’s suffering
key quotations for death
“And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”
“In all my dreams before my helpless sight,/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”
“The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori”
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR DEATH
“And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”
“In all my dreams before my helpless sight,/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”
“The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori”
Repetition of the word “face” presents the image as all-consuming while the alliteration intensifies the dreadful imagery. There is no sense of peace; the death is prolonged and agonising, intended to shock and dispel any preconceived notion of glory
The speaker is haunted by the memory, perhaps reflecting Owen’s own experiences of shell shock. The present tense stresses the perpetual nature of the nightmare
Caesura and capitalisation of “Lie” convey the definiteness of Owen’s assertion
key quotations for the loss of innocence
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”
“Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—”
“To children ardent for some desperate glory
ANALYSIS FOR KEY QUOTES FOR THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”
“Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—”
“To children ardent for some desperate glory
The imagery and simile of the soldiers as old men highlights their physical exhaustion and the dehumanising conditions of warfare
The alliteration linking “incurable” and “innocent” highlights the soldiers’ suffering. Enjambment conveys the horror of war juxtaposed with the subsequent line where the speaker addresses the reader
The word “children” has both literal and figurative interpretations, suggesting that those who idealise war as glorious are naive about its gruesome reality
