Dulce et Decorum Est

Question 1

this imagery is used to contrast typical war propaganda

Answer 1

old beggars under sacks

Question 2

more imagery of the soldiers being old, contrasting typical depictions

Answer 2

knock-kneed, coughing like hags

Question 3

the war seems hopeless and rest is far away

Answer 3

towards our distant rest began to trudge

Question 4

soldiers were unable to make their own decisions, like robots; automatous

Answer 4

Men marched asleep

Question 5

this language is used to show how the men are unenthusiastic

Answer 5

But limped on, blood-shod.

Question 6

list of sense being compromised

Answer 6

All went lame; all blind;/ Drunk with fatigue; deaf to the hoots

Question 7

the soldiers are desensitised to the sounds of bombs, they are ‘deaf to it’.
Oxymoronic as they drop “softly” showing further desensitisation

Answer 7

deaf to the hoots/ Of gas shells dropping softly behind

Question 8

sudden exclamation at th estart of the second paragraph

Answer 8

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!

Question 9

the soldiers are awoken from their ‘sleep’ and suddenly are panicked

Answer 9

ecstasy of fumbling,

Question 10

the second part of the phrase shows the urgency to save themselves but the first part indicates how inadequate the equipment is

Answer 10

clumsy helmets just in time

Question 11

a generic soldier is struggling, shows the horror of war as it is the ‘unnamed soldier’

Answer 11

someone still yelling out and stumbling

Question 12

rhyming couplets in ABABCDCD structure to show the order and regularity of war

Answer 12

fumbling…stumbling

Question 13

he is threatened and in the limelight, very unusual simile to show his suffering

Answer 13

floundering like a man in fire or lime

Question 14

Chlorine gas is seen through the glasses

Answer 14

Dime, through the misty panes and thick green light

Question 15

metaphor of sea used except the man is actually drowning on the chlorine gas

Answer 15

under a green sea…drowning

Question 16

PTSD from seeing so many deaths

Answer 16

In all my dreams

Question 17

3 verbs in an asyndetic list used to frame the suffering as eternal, end stopped line shows death as life is final

Answer 17

guttering, choking, drowning

Question 18

repetition of this word to show that personal experience is required to understand the suffering

Answer 18

If…

Question 19

dreams referenced again, links to PTSD

Answer 19

smothering dreams

Question 20

his body is not treated with dignity, no room for niceties

Answer 20

wagon…flung him

Question 21

unimaginable suffering, vivid imagery

Answer 21

white eyes writhing

Question 22

he looks like he’s about to die, ironic as he is, evil used to convey that war is bad as intended by the tone of the poem

Answer 22

hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin

Question 23

the man is being possessed, he is not in control, vivid negative imagery of being sick,

Answer 23

froth-corrupted lungs

Question 24

war and violence are presented as evil and the similes are comparative to hatred

Answer 24

obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Question 25

what’s done cannot be undone, innocent lives are ended due to other peoples problems

Answer 25

incurable sore on innocent tongues

Question 26

war is extremely overglorified

Answer 26

such high zest

Question 27

fighting is fruitless, “some” used to show that naïve soldiers are convinced to fight for a lie

Answer 27

some desperate glory

Question 28

“it is sweet and glorious to die for ones country” is a falsehood, “Lie” capitalised to show how emphatically and prevalently false it is

Answer 28

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori

Question 29

How much war did the poet see?

Answer 29

lots, he fought for the French army and saw many die to gas attacks

Question 30

what were the poets aims

Answer 30

to show people the horrors of war

Question 31

what is teh structure

Answer 31

loosely 2x sonnet, half is ideas, half is action

Question 32

what does the meter reflect

Answer 32

iambic pentameter used to reflet the monotonous nature of war