Poem Analysis

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
Subject matter

The poem is about a group of men in WW1 who are exhausted and walking to a
destination. A gas cylinder is thrown near them and they must put on their masks
quickly. One of their soldiers is unable to put on his mask in time and is poisoned,
horrifying the speaker. The soldier is thrown in the wagon.Owen questions if
there's any point or glory in such a waste.
Subject matter

● The title of the poem comes from Horace’s Odes, a famous Roman philosopher and
poet. The title means it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.

● The first stanza describes the conditions of the soldiers, aged beyond their years
because of the dreadful conditions in which they live in. They are fatigued.

● In the second stanza, the men are frantic and are in a state of ecstasy as they
experience a gas attack. They are horrifically described as dying.
Subject matter

● The third stanza describes the nightmares the narrator still experiences as a result of watching his friend
dying in front of him. The use of present tense ‘ plunges at me’ conveys to the reader that he is reliving the
events of that time on a frequent basis.

● The fourth stanza describes a boy’s body being thrown into a cart for the dead. Not dead yet, they watch him
suffer a slow agonising death. Owen is telling the readers that if they too could experience what he had
witnessed, they would not be so quick to praise the war. They are lying to future generations when
describing that death on the battlefield is sweet and honourable. Owen does not hold back. His vivid imagery
is quite shocking, his message direct and his conclusion sincere.
Purpose

This poem takes aim at protesting against the idea that war was glorious and
honourable contradicting to the propaganda supporting war at that time.
Emotion

● The tone of the poem is very angry with those who glorify the war to
entice boys so young to join the army in the hopes and promise of
glory.
● Contradicts Horace’s famous saying “It is fit and honourable to die
for one’s country”. Owen sees it as tragic and wasteful to die
unnecessarily during war.
Craftsmanship (Irony)

The title is ironic- its’ intended meaning is the opposite of the literal. The aim is
to shock the audience. The use of Latin indicates that the audience Owen is
writing for are well educated people and in support of the war.
Craftsmanship (Allusion)

"My friend"
Directly refers to patriotic poet, Jessie Pope, who wrote poetry
encouraging enlistment. Owen himself was a victim of these
propagandist ideals, therefore he has much bitterness towards her.
Craftsmanship (Repetition)

Owen also draws the reader’s attention to the key actions and themes of the poem by his use of
repeated short, single words:
● ‘All’ is repeated twice in line 6 to ensure we are aware that no one escaped
● ‘Gas! GAS!’, capitalised on the second use, jolts us into the awareness of the terror and horror of
the attack
● Lines 14 and 16 are end-stopped with ‘drowning.’, the finality of the word and its repeated use
emphasising how impossible it is for Owen to forget the man’s suffering
● Similarly, the image of the man’s ‘face / His hanging face’ l.19-20 is impressed upon our memory
by being repeated
● The repetition of the ‘If .. you’ construction at the start of lines 16 and 21 highlights Owen’s anger
and direct (almost accusing) communication to his readers.
Craftsmanship (Repetition)

● Lines 14 and 16 are end-stopped with ‘drowning.’, the finality of the word
and its repeated use emphasising how impossible it is for Owen to forget
the man’s suffering.
● The word drowning is important here. With the gas mask on, he appears to
be underwater, like swimming goggles. The green glass makes the outside
look like the sea. The man is drowning – drowning in his own blood.
Structure

The poem consists of four stanzas of various lengths. The first 14 lines can be read as a [3sonnet3)
although they do not end with a rhyming couplet, and instead the ab ab rhyme-scheme carries on into
the separate pair of lines which constitute the third stanza.
Whilst the initial fourteen lines depict the situation and the events which take place, the last fourteen
lines show the consequences of what has happened and Owen’s reflection on it. The final four lines
are his injunction to the reader to avert similar suffering in the future.
The structure of the poem shows the chaos of war.
Sounds (Assonance)
double / under / cursed / sludge / haunting /turned /
trudge.

And again with

drunk / fumbling / clumsy / stumbling / under /

plunges / guttering / flung / corrupted / lungs / cud /
dulce

Throughout the poem this is almost like the

background rumbling of distant explosions.
Sounds (Alliteration)

‘Knock kneed, coughing like hags we cursed’

implies she soldiers have been physically broken by
war, ck sound is harsh and carries a sense of
brokenness, reflecting war's harsh reality
Sounds (Alliteration)
Owen’s use of repeated sounds picks up the alliteration of the title. ‘Dulce’ and
‘Decorum’ are the two contentious, abstract nouns meaning ‘sweet’ and ‘honourable’,
which he revisits in the final lines of the poem. Joined as they are by the similar
sounds of ‘et’ and ‘est’, they set a pattern for the alliteration which follows.
Each example emphasises the horror of the event:
● soldiers are ‘Bent’ like ‘beggars’ l.1, who ‘cough’ and ‘curse’. l.2
● the hum of the ‘m’ sounds of lines 5 and 6 sound like a grim lullaby -
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on .. All went lame

Owen’s use of alliteration builds as the pain worsens. In the ‘wagon’ l.18 Owen
exhorts us to ‘watch the white eyes writhing l.19
Sounds (Rhyme)

ABABCDCD rhyme scheme

Regular rhyme and rhythm scheme echoes the sound of soldiers marching
Sounds (Onomatopoeia)

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Owen uses the onomatopoeic verb trudge to
further emphasise the difficulty of the journey
between places. The terrain that the soldiers
travelled along would have predominantly
consisted of mud.
The “distant rest” is ambiguous, referring to
their camp, but also oblivion — a reference to
the likely deaths of these soldiers, with death
acting almost a relief from the horrors of war.
Sounds (Rhyme)

ABABCDCD rhyme scheme

Regular rhyme and rhythm scheme echoes the sound of soldiers marching
Language

"Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!"

Monosyllabic words/minor sentences. Increases speed, creates a frenzy of action reflecting the tension
and urgency of the soldiers as they struggle to fit their masks in time. Contrasts the slow and dragged
pace of stanza one; chaos is suddenly all around - there is no 'safe' moment in war.

Exclamation marks used for emphasis, as are capitals in second "GAS!". Makes it seem like a shout -
makes the reader feel like they are there and more included. Repetition of the word gas to emphasize
the panic of the situation.
"boys" = shows how innocent youth were in the war
Language

‘I saw him... in all my dreams... plunges at me’

First person narrative perspective. Shows the writer is
telling the story from his own experience. Adds credibility.
Helps the reader understand the effect of the war on a
soldier.
Language

‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’

Present progressive tense. Instead of telling the story in the past, he now
switches to present, as though the war is now over and this image still
haunts him every time he closes his eyes. Details the emotional trauma and
scarring that many soldiers were left to endure post-war.Plunges’ fits in with
the extended metaphor of drowning. ‘Guttering, choking, drowning’. Three
violent verbs describe how disgusting this death is.
Language

"If you could hear..."

Personal pronouns. Directly addressing the content of this poem to the reader, in this case, patriotic
citizens. Forces them to imagine themselves in this situation.
Imagery (Simile)

“Bent double, like old beggars” line 1

● Someone who is bent double is standing with their upper body curved forwards
and down towards the ground, often as a result of strong emotion or pain.
Opposite to the poster’s view of the men with straight backs.
● The soldiers were sent to war as heroes and reduced to embarrassing and
undesirable images.
● It shows how miserable they are for the position that they are in, fatigued and
undernourished.
● No longer clean and proud looking but instead they are now in dirty uniforms
which look like rags.
Imagery (Simile)

"Coughing like hags" line 2

Owen compares the men to old, ugly women. The word old in line 1 shows that they have lost their
youth due to war and the word hags implies that they lost their masculinity as well.
Imagery (Simile)

‘Like a devil’s sick of sin’

a lot of discussion has been on this image. God is holy. The devil loves sin as it
separates people from God. Therefore, to the devil, sin is good. Why would the
devil be sick of sin? Is the image so grotesque, so intensely disgusting that
even the devil feels ill? Or is it that the devil has vomited all of the world’s sin on
this soldier? Does it show this soldier is in a living hell where God can’t help
him?
Imagery (Metaphor)

“Distant rest”

may just mean barracks, but it's more likely an ironic term for death, as WW1 ended the lives of over nine
million men.
Imagery (Simile)

"obscene as cancer"
Terrifying because there is no cure. Kills hundreds of thousands without mercy.
Can affect anyone - not discriminatory.
Imagery (personification)

Disappointed shells
Imagery (Simile)

‘Flound’ring like a man in fire or lime’ – Owen

had a religious upbringing and was taught
about burning in hell. This soldier feels like he is
living in hell.
Imagery (Metaphor)

“Drunk with fatigue”

Shows how tired the men are. Imagery of the men being so exhausted that they cannot control their limbs.
drunk with fatigue
Movement

Yes. It’s in iambic pentameter.

Summary