'dulce et decorum est' - wilfred owen

Question 1

describe the context of wilfred owen:

Answer 1

• enlisted to fight in WW1 in 1915, aged 22.
• in 1916, fell into a shell hole and suffered concussion. was blown up by trench mortar. spent several days lying amongst the remains of his fellow officers.
• diagnosed with shell shock, sent to Edinburgh for treatment, and there he befriended an influential WW1 soldier poet, and this influenced Owen’s writing.
• July 1918, returned to active service. saw it as duty to tell harsh reality of WW1 warfare.
• awarded military cross for bravery and leadership.
• died a week before WW1 ended.
• was writing in direct opposition to WW1 propaganda, as he didn’t want war to be glorified.

Question 2

what does ‘dulce et decorum est’ mean?

Answer 2

shortened version of ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’, meaning ‘it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’. these lines were commonly used by pro-war supporters.

Question 3

describe Jessie Pope’s poem (‘Who’s for the game’):

Answer 3

• propaganda poem published originally in the Daily Mail early on in WW1.
• encouraged men to enlist, using rhetorical questions to persuade - or pressure - them to do so.
• an idealised depiction of war is given. war is compared to a game; its harsh realities are ignored.
• Owen initially wanted to directly oppose Pope’s poem in his poetry, but then came to address all pro-war propaganda, not jsut this one.

Question 4

analyse the title, ‘dulce et decorum est’:

Answer 4

title expresses a pro-war sentiment, and so we would expect this poem will be positive about fighting in war.

owen subverts these expectations, and uses the pro-war phrase in an iconic way, as he has had first-hand experience of the horrors of war.

Question 5

analyse the first stanza:

Answer 5

structure:
- enjambment used (e.g. ‘men marched asleep. many had lost their boots/but limped on, blood-shod’). continues lines without a break, mirroring the long journey ahead of the soldiers.
- ‘all went lame; all blind’ caesurae represent the stop-start journey of the soldiers.

imagery:
- ‘…like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags’. similes emphasise how weak and broken war has left the soldiers. they’re young mean, and are compared to ‘hags’. immediately expresses realistic, negative view of war - contrasts to the title.

language:
- oxymoron ‘gas shells dropping softly behind’ highlights the soldiers’ exhaustion; the world makes no sense to them.
- ‘cursed’ ‘trudge’ ‘lame’ ‘limped on’ semantic field of exhaustion to reject the traditional images of heroism in war poetry.

Question 6

analyse the second stanza:

Answer 6

imagery:
- ‘clumsy helmets’ personification reflects the owners, reinforces the idea that the soldiers were not expecting the gas attack.

structure:
- repetition of ‘gas! gas!’ creates a sense of urgency.

language:
- exclamation marks in ‘gas! gas!’ highlights the sense of panic.
- ‘fumbling’ ‘stumbling’ ‘floundering’ presents soldiers as unprepared. rejects the traditional idea of wartime heroism.

Question 7

analyse the poem’s third stanza:

Answer 7

structure:
- owen has kept these two lines separate from the structure, to make it stand out. emphasises the fact that seeing their fellow soldier drown is something that stands out in the person’s mind.

language:
- ‘in all my dreams’ possible reference to shell-shock. the persona is haunted by this event, ‘plagues’ all their dreams.
- ‘helpless sight’ poem’s persona is powerless. shell-shock is making them feel this way.
- ‘he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’ present continuous verb tense implies this event is repeatedly playing out in the persona’s imagination - they cannot escape what they’ve seen.

Question 8

analyse the first halve of the final stanza:

Answer 8

language:
- ‘smothering dreams’ reference to his shell-shock? ‘smothering’ suggests dreams are violent and suffocating.
- pronoun use. ‘you’ intended audience. (Jessie Pope, pro-war supporters?). you vs we: pro-war supporters at home vs the soldiers actually doing the fighting. ‘his’ dead soldier is unspecific and anonymous. scares the readers - fill in the details of the soldier with people they know.

structure:
- ‘watch the white eyes writhing’ alliterations emphasises the horror of the image.

imagery:
- ‘like a devil’s sick of sin’ ‘blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs’ ‘obscene as cancer’ shocking images designed to highlight the brutality of war. creates critical tone, dismissing propaganda and pro-war views.

Question 9

analyse the final four lines of the final stanza:

Answer 9

language:

• ‘my friend’ direct address. addressing jessie pope or pro-war supporters generally.
• the old lie: ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’. rejects the pro war sentiment that it is ‘sweet and proper to die for one’s country’. can reject this sentiment with authority, as he has seen people die for their country, and has seen how excruciating and horrific it is: it is certainly not ‘sweet and proper’.

Question 10

describe the structure of the entire poem:

Answer 10

• alternate rhyme scheme (ABABCDCD, etc.) mirrors the soldiers as they march.
• seems to be written in iambic pentameter, but isn’t perfect. inconsistent rhythm could represent the inconsistent rhythm of marching. short lines could represent that lives were ‘cut short’.
• combination of two English sonnets and is almost like a French ballade. war is powerfully disruptive, so much so that it disrupts language and poetry.
• or it’s a combination of English and French poetic forms, in honour of the allied forces.

Question 11

describe the mood throughout the poem:

Answer 11

overwhelmingly negative: war is difficult (‘cursed through sludge’), deadly (‘drowning’), and disgusting (‘bitter as cud’). towards the end, the tone becomes more critical, as pro-war sentiment is dismissed.