Dulce et Decorum Est

Question 1

What is it about

Answer 1

Wilfred Owen describes a gas attack in the trenches during WW1 This poem is anti war

Question 2

Who is the poet

Answer 2

Wilfred Owen

Question 3

What are the themes

Answer 3

War
Pain
Death
Decay
Lies
Conflict
Anger

Question 4

What’s the structure

Answer 4

4 uneven stanzas. The first two male a sonnet. Last stanza directed to the reader. Punctuation changes the pace of the poem. Choppy and uneven- reflects how warfare in unpredictable. Powerful verbs, use of the senses and onomatopoeia

Question 5

Context?

Answer 5

Men were eager to sign up, but propaganda was needed to recruit them. Response to the poem Jesse Pope wrote ‘who’s for the game?’

Question 6

‘Bent double like beggars under sacks’

Answer 6

A big, limping opening sentence, reflects the endless weariness of the soldiers. Aged prematurely. Ragged uniforms

Question 7

‘Men marched asleep’

Answer 7

So tired it’s as if they’re drunk or asleep, shows extreme exhaustion- war has broken these men

Question 8

‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’

Answer 8

Short sentences mark a change of pace. Sense of urgency, soldiers scrambling for their masks. Shows how close to death they are all the time.

Question 9

‘At every jolt, the blood come gargling from the froth- corrupted lungs’

Answer 9

Uses gruesome imagery to emphasise the horrific consequences of the gas attack

Question 10

‘The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’

Answer 10

It is sweet and fitting to die for your county. Highlights that war is cruel, degrading and horrifying