Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen Flashcards
Who is the speaker?
Owen
–> recounting his first hand experiences of fighting in WW1
What does Owen think about war? With quote that shows this.
Thinks that war is cruel, degrading and undignified
‘the wagon we flung him in’
–> there was no time for dignity
When is this poem based?
WW1
Owen was killed in action on the 4th November 1918 at the end of the war
Where does the poem take place?
walking away from the front line
Why does Wilfred Owen share his experience in this poem?
Wants people to know the truth about the front line
Honest portrayal of war, opposite to the pro-war, patriotic ideas of the time
How did he use form and structure in the poem?
The initial 14 lines depict the situation and the events which take place
The last 14 lines show he consequences of what happened and Owens reflection on it
The final 4 lines are his injunction to the reader to avert similar suffering in the future
The poem is written in four stanzas of unequal and varying length
–>irregular structure reflects life as a soldier
‘Bent double, …
..like old beggars under sacks’
First line
Shows their fatigue after excessive hours of fighting
‘Men..
..marched asleep’
Metaphor
‘Gas!..
..Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling’
Imperative
Sense of urgency
Sense of danger
‘If you could..
..hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs’
‘If’ –> conditional
Use of vivid imagery
‘The old..
..lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro patria mori.’
The propaganda posters were lying
irony - harsh not sweet
context
mother received telegram informing her of his death as the bells rang in celebration of the end of the war
he was awarded the military cross for bravery
Comment on the title
The poem’s title is taken from a Latin saying which was often quoted at the start of the First World War to encourage men to fight.
It means, ‘It is sweet and honourable…’, yet in this poem Owen presents the harsh and unglamorous reality of trench warfare
First two lines + analysis
‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, /Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’
‘bent double’ shows that the soldiers are so exhausted that they cannot even stand up
Owen uses similes to suggest that the men are prematurely old and weakened
What does the verb ‘trudge’ suggest?
The verb ‘trudge’ suggests a slow and heavy walk because of the harsh conditions suffered by the soldiers
What does ‘men marched asleep’ suggest?
The metaphor suggests the extreme exhaustion and fatigue of the soldiers.
What do the words ‘lame’, ‘blind’ and ‘deaf’ used to describe the soldiers imply?
that war has completely broken these men
Which line initiates the poems change in pace?
‘Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling’
the pace of the poem quickens with the warning ‘Gas! GAS! Quick boys!’ , creating a sense of urgency as the soldiers scramble around trying to fit their gas masks
What does ‘yelling out and stumbling’ describe?
the terror and panic of a soldier who has not managed to pull on his mask in time
What does the simile ‘like a man in fire or lime’?
gas is burning him
creates a horrible visual image for the reader
‘In all my dreams’ analysis
The speaker describes his recurrent, haunting nightmares of the gas attack, showing he can never have peace, not even in his sleep
‘helpless sight’ and ‘guttering, choking, drowning’ analysis
His dreams recount the feeling of helplessness as he watched his fellow man suffocate
the listed verbs emphasising a slow, drawn-out, horrifying aspects of the mans death
analyse ‘you too could pace’
the speaker addresses the reader directly
if those at home had experienced the horrors of war first-hand , they would not convince more men to go to war
Analysis on the lines ‘Behind the wagon that we flung him in,/And watch the white eyes writhing in his face’
The grotesque image of the man’s eyes rolling back in his head suggest that he is still alive when he is ‘flung’ into the wagon. The verb ‘flung’ shows that there is no time or space for dignity in death at war, and no burial for its victims
