Dulce Et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

Written in iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF

Question 2

Themes

Answer 2

Patriotism
Horrors of war

Question 3

Context

Answer 3

The poem addresses a poem written by Jessie Pope, a patriotic English poet supporting the war
It’s a harsh critique, expressing the true nature of war as we know it

Question 4

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge

Answer 4

These first few lines vividly describe the exhaustion the soldiers felt following an attack. WW2 soldiers required a very high level of fitness so comparing them to ‘hags’ and ‘beggars’ contrasted the wartime propaganda displaying them all as happy an excited to fight. The soil of the battlefield was often churned up by shells and the rain turned it into sludge. The slow-paced phrase ‘we cursed through sludge’ helped to simulate the slow progress of the soldiers in such treacherous conditions

Question 5

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

Answer 5

This line shows the soldiers turning away from the light and noise of the war towards camp. The soldiers used to light no man’s land and they hung in the air like ghosts to haunt the soldiers with the fact that they could lead them to their death

Question 6

And towards our distant rest began to trudge

Answer 6

The onomatopoeic verb ‘trudge’ emphasises the great difficulty of travelling through the sodden mud whilst the phrase ‘distant rest’ is quite ambiguous as it could refer to either their beds or their death

Question 7

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on blood - shod. All went lame; all blind;

Answer 7

The powerful imagery helps emphasis the soldier’s misery. The compound adjective ‘blood-shod’ is quite concise and vivid, very similar to the word ‘bloodshed’. The majority of the poem is written in iambic pentameter as to simulate the marching of the soldier’s feet but the poet sometimes breaks that using enjamblement, creating an irregular and somewhat unnerving pace

Question 8

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas shells dropping softly behind

Answer 8

The 1st line refers to the loss of coordination that often comes with being exhausted as the disjointed rhythm imitates the men’s current states

Question 9

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

Answer 9

The poem experiences a rapid change of pace and the capitalisation of certain words helps to emphasis the sense of the desperation they are all feeling as well as a sense of urgency as they put on their gas masks. The viewpoint perhaps changes from just the narrator to all of the panicking men. The word ‘ecstasy’ is used in the sense of being beyond self-control suggesting that this is too chaotic

Question 10

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime …

Answer 10

This line explains that a soldier was too late to fit his gas mask and the pace quickens again as he panics. The noun ‘lime’ is a dry chemical compound that burns through flesh like ‘fire’

Question 11

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light

Answer 11

The phrase ‘think green light’ perhaps refers to the chlorine gas cloud. The use of these specific words slow the pace as if reflecting the soldier’s mental confusion as to why they are fighting in such horrendous conditions

Question 12

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning

Answer 12

This line suggests that the man is flailing and choking on the gas like he is drowning under water. It may also have a more literal meaning as chlorine causes the lungs to fill up with fluid

Question 13

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning

Answer 13

The speaker switches the tense back to the present and it could be considered the turning point of the poem. The narrator appears to now be suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as well as survivor’s guilt. The adjective ‘helpless’ helps to convey the despair and futility felt by many survivors and the triplet of verbs help to emphasise their suffering

Question 14

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in

Answer 14

The poet now address the reader using the 2nd person plural ‘you’. From his perspective, those Jo don’t challenge the ‘old lie’ are complicit in the suffering. The adjective ‘smothering may be describing how the soldier’s dreams are slowly killing him

Question 15

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face

Answer 15

The alliteration and assonant sounds combine to create a line difficult to say, reflecting his pain. The phrase ‘white eyes’ may refer to the blindness of those who pro,one wars despite the horrors

Question 16

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

Answer 16

The phrase ‘hanging face’ conveys misery. The 2nd part of the phase could be considered hyperbolic as the devil being the incarnation of sin but the phrase suggests that even he would not be able to cope with the horror

Question 17

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of viler incurable cores on innocent tongues, -

Answer 17

He uses powerful yet repulsive similes as well as sharp consonants and fricative f’s to make these lines clearly represent the fury and revulsion he felt. The dash after tongue creates a caesura to from a dramatic climax. The final line refers to both the physical and emotional damage the young man suffered as they lost their naivety and innocence

Question 18

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory

Answer 18

He is calling our propaganda artists who encourage young men to sign up and through doing so uses ‘friend’ in a sarcastic tone, highlighting his deep cynicism

Question 19

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori

Answer 19

‘It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’