Dulce Et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen

Question 1

Slow pace 1st stanza - DetDest

Answer 1

“Like old beggars under sack” “we cursed through the sludge”
multiple clauses used, separated by dashes - reflecting the soldiers thoughts/feelings that war/the walk is relentless and will never end.

Question 2

Fast paced 2nd stanza - DetDest

Answer 2

short sentences and exclamation marks to express the urgency of the gas attack.
“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys” - capitalisation for emphasis and to mirror the frantic nature of the struggle for survival.
Quick change between stanzas shows how the battlefield is dynamic so you cannot be at all comfortable or unattentive.
Describes this “ecstasy of fumbling” accurately.

Question 3

Final stanza slower tone - DetDest

Answer 3

reflects the feeling + reflection the speaker is doing, brings it back to the relentlessness of war - affecting them even after it is over. Owen uses 2nd person pronouns “If you could hear” to create an uncomfortable + accusatory tone. Aimed at those in power but unnerves the regular everyday people too. “my friend” - irony.
Represents these “smothering dreams” - claustrophobic feeling. Goes into painful, excrutiating detail of incurable “froth corrupted lungs”

Question 4

Physical exhaustion of soldiers - DetDest

Answer 4

shows how the brave soldiers were exploited.
“coughing like hags”
“bent double”
“men marched asleep”
contrary to soldiers portrayal in media

Question 5

Gas attack - DetDest

Answer 5

“flound’ring like a man in fire or in lime-“
chlorine/mustard gas.
“misty panes” - viewed through gas mask. Obscured - traumitised. Feels helpless/selfish that he is safe

Question 6

Isolation of 2 lines - DetDest

Answer 6

“in all my dreams, before my helpless sight/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”
- triad
- infiltrated every aspect of his life
- desperation is emphasised, grounds the poem and brings it to the focal point/turning point

Question 7

Calls out those in power - DetDest

Answer 7

“The old lie”
“children ardent for some desparate glory” - calling out those in power, shaming them for taking advantage of desparate young men.

Question 8

PTSD - DetDest

Answer 8

Infiltration of all thoughts - all consuming.
“Smothering dreams”
vivid description of “hanging face” and “blood come gargling from froth-corrupted lungs” makes audience empathise/aware of true nature of war.

Question 9

Context - DetDest

Answer 9

• Owen fought and died in WW1
• He became one of the leading poets of the conflict
• Wrote the poem as a response to Jessie Pope’s pro-war poems (originally titled ‘To Jessie Pope’)
• “Dulce et Decorum est, pro patri mori” - latin phrase meaning “it is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country” - old pro-war propaganda