dulce et decorum est Flashcards
who was it written by and some brief life info?
Wilfred Owen
Owen fought in WW1 and had considerable experience of war.
The poem was written while Owen was recovering from ‘shell shock’ at Craiglockhart Hospital.
Here he met fellow war poet Siegfried Sassoon who became his mentor and encouraged Owen to channel his feelings about the war into poetry.
Owen was killed just two weeks before the end of the war.
what is the form and structure like?
The poem is made up of four irregular stanzas.
The first two stanzas (fourteen lines) form a loose sonnet.
The second two stanzas are looser in structure which could illustrate the destructive impact of war.
what are the key themes?
The poem portrays the harsh realities of war.
It contrasts with the jingoistic poems of people like Jessie Pope, who glorified the war as a game. The poem was originally dedicated to her.
what is the historical and literary context?
Historical Context: Written during and about World War 1.
Owen had firsthand experience of conflict as he fought in the war, dying a week before Armistice Day. He also suffered a mental breakdown and spent time at Craiglockhart War Hospital - a mental asylum.
Literary Context: .Owen was one of the leading war poets of the first world war and his poem is a riposte to the jingoistic doggerel of poets like Jessie Pope who glorified the war.
The title of the poem slashes in half a line from Horace’s ode 3.2, a paean to the glory of dying in battle. The poem’s fragmentary sonnet structure could reflect both a disintegrating faith in the justness of war and the soldiers’ increasingly fragile mental states.
quote 1: ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ what could you say about this?
A Latin phrase that means ‘it is sweet and right’. The poem ends with the full phrase ‘Dulce et Decorum est/ Pro patria mor’ which means ‘it is sweet and right to die for one’s country’. Owen refers to this as the ‘old Lie’ because it was used to encourage men to join the war but wrongly glorifies it.
quote 2: ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks/ knock-kneed, coughing like hags’ what could you say about this?
This simile implies that the soldiers are no longer young men, they have nothing. Could be seen as a criticism of the conditions they had to live in. ‘Hags’ are women which suggests war emasculates men.
quote 3: ‘Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling’
Reported speech and switch to present tense conveys urgency. The repetition and exclamation marks highlight the panic felt by the soldiers. Juxtaposition also suggest the soldiers’ main aim is to live for their country not die for it.
quote 4: ‘As under a green sea, I saw him drowning’ what could you say about this?
The ‘green sea’ is a metaphor for mustard gas but this caused soldiers to literally drown because poison gas dissolves mens’ lungs so they drown in their own fluid. First person adds authenticity of eye-witness account.
quote 5: ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’ what could you say about this?
Present tense suggests that soldiers cannot escape the horrors of war. ‘Drowning’ is repeated which suggests the recurring nature of the memories.
quote 6: ‘If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs’ what could you say about this?
The direct address and onomatopoeic verb encourages readers to imagine the graphic nature of war.
