Dulce Et Decorum Est Commentary

Dulce Et Decorum Est CommentaryDulce et decorum est is a famous anti- state of war poet written by Wilfred Owen in 1917, during the WWI. It portrays war as a stern and dehu art objectizing experience by utilizing a fig of horrific, gruesome imageries effectively. This poem is based on a quotation from a Latin poem, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, which conceives It is sweet and proper to die for ones country. However, there is absolutely nothing in the true(a) poem that is sweet, nor is there whatsoever description that associates directly to its title. The poem is ironically dedicated to Jessie Pope, a childrens book writer and a poet known to write poems that deliver patriotic messages. It also objurgates the media that propagated the desolate soldiers for attempting ignoble political maneuvers, and also those who glorify war without any just purpose. The poem can be divided roughly into three sections the soldiers leaving the battleground a scenery of the soldiers su ffering from an unexpected splash attack and a blistering criticism against those who glorifies these soldiers.The first stanza describes how the soldiers atomic number 18 mentally and physically distressed from the brutal and horrifying experiences of war. It mainly foc subroutines on the discomforts and grieves of the soldiers who ar in desperate need of medical supplies and attention. Wilfred Owen draws a sharp contrast between these old war-stricken soldiers described as Old beggars under sacks and the glorious and virile images people tend to have against soldiers. This stanza clearly highlights the fact that they argon NOT marching towards the battlefield with patriotic spirit, exclusively instead trudging exhaustingly like Hags who are completely worn out and mutated. They march by putting forth all the little strength left in them and walking Knock-kneed so that they can at least keep on moving forward. Many have lost their boots from cursing through sludge, and in retr eat from warfare, many drag their feet, shod in their own blood with desperate need of recovery from the accumulated fatigue.The poem consist a number of 28 lines, and has a convectional rhyming structure. It uses full poesys such as sack and back, sludge and trudge, boots and hoots, and so on. The rhyme scheme is in alternative groups of tetrad, ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN. However, the stanzas are broken up irregularly into 8, 6, 2, 12 lines, and are not presented as quatrains. In the first section, with a stanza of 8 lines, an octave which basically explains the environmental conditions and the deplorable situations the soldiers are in, and one of six, a sestet,, it can be assumed to be an Petrarchan sonnet, although it is not tenacious to the classical organise since Wilfred Owen does not seem to strictly adhere to the actual rhyme scheme.The poem starts off with an slow pace, creating an ambience of dismay and dejection by utilizing words such as Sludge and Trudge. O wens illustrative use of vision here allows us to picture and understand the poor environmental and physical conditions they are in. It shows how the soldiers are not merely tired, simply that they are coming constrictive to losing all the hopes they may have had for their bright future. A very good use of simile can be seen in the first verse where the soldiers are described to be old, crippled reprobates, who are Bent double, like old beggars under sacks / knock need, coughing like hags, even though many essential have been very young. By saying so, Owen effectively breaks the widely accepted image of soldiers being brave, patriotic and highly motivated. Another intriguing term that deserves a mention here is Distant rest which can be interpreted in two ways one interpretation may simply mean to have a long-awaited rest to recover from exhaustion, save it also implicitly refers to Rest In Peace as a destiny for many engaged in war.The second stanza prompts the readers to an abrupt alarm of danger. Gas, GAS Quick, boys Just as the boys were heading for a peace of mind by retreating from the front line, gas shells overlook beside them. As soon as they hear the warning, the soldiers begin to hastily wear their Clumsy helmets to save their own lives in ecstasy of fumbling. Terrible and shocking images of the gas attack are highlighted by focusing on the unfortunate one who does not get to wear the mask in time and is slowly but surely poisoned to death. The notion of lung burning And floundering like a man on fire or lime make ups a terrifying image of the man twist and suffering from the symptoms of intoxication.The poem consist a number of 28 lines, and has a convectional rhyming structure. It uses full rhymes such as sack and back, sludge and trudge, boots and hoots, and so on. The rhyme scheme is in alternative groups of four, ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN. However, the stanzas are broken up irregularly into 8, 6, 2, 12 lines, and are not prese nted as quatrains. In the first section, with a stanza of 8 lines, an octave which basically explains the environmental conditions and the deplorable situations the soldiers are in, and one of six, a sestet,, it can be assumed to be an Petrarchan sonnet, although it is not tenacious to the classical form since Wilfred Owen does not seem to strictly adhere to the actual rhyme scheme.Owen again furbish ups uses of similes to describe the affect the gas attack is making to the man. And floundering like a man n fire or lime. Also capital letters and exclamation marks are utilized as accents to emphasize the reason of urgency and panic, and to make the image even more graphical. GAS Gas Quick, boys An ecstasy of fumbling. He deliberately uses the word ecstasy, which usually means to be rapturous, to dramatize the overflowing sense of panic and fear the soldiers are in. Owen applies words such as floundering, clumsy and stumbling not only to pace up the poem, but to communicate the sen se of emergency, and the disorderly turmoil the soldiers find themselves in. However, then there is a sudden slowing down of pace led by the daunting imagery of fatal gloss over prevailing over the soldiers drowningunder the one thousand sea of poisonous gas. Also, there is a use of double entente seen here Dim, through the misty panes and dense green light / As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. Not only does the imagery of the green sea imply the aglow(predicate) gas misting in the air, but it also portrays the view the soldiers see through the dim lenses of their gas masks. The ones who are protectively accoutered in mask passively observe the life of the unprotected relentlessly fading awayThe two lines In all my dreams before my assistanceless sight and He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning are thoughtfully separated to show all those who believe blindly that war in reality is not about brevity or winning or for anyones country but is simply about survival and an desperate escape from an overwhelming fear of becoming crippled both physically and mentally. Owen continues to utilize metaphors colligate to sleep walking, dreams and nightmares, to assert how terrible, and relentless the returning image given is. The helpless sight indicated here is describing the guilt feeling of how the speaker I is unable to help the gas-poisoned comrade. He enumerates continuously a number of verbs to accentuate the immediacy of the section, and to reiterate the unimaginable suffering of the comrade as he drowns deep in the green sea.And at closing curtain, for the last stanza, Owen describes the soldiers death mask as a devils sick of sin, to implicate that an once innocent youth has fallen into the pitfall of hell. The last four lines here are very ironic and cynical, as if they are Wilfred Owens own words. The poem ends with an asseveration that Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, is a complete lie, In the last verse, Owen, for the first time, empl oys the second person you to directly address us readers in an attempt to wake us up to see the ugly reality of war that he unveils. In the phrase Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, Owen reminds the readers that these soldiers in the battlefield were also once the children ardent for some desperate glory, who were brainwashed to generate their lives in such a pitifully poor environment. In the last lines, his anger, ill feeling and strong sense of denunciation towards the absurdity of war are vividly expressed in a manner that is highly convincing to the readers not to let the old lie be passed on unnoticed to the future(a) generation. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate gloryIn the last sentence, Wilfred Owen purposely does not apply the use of iambic meter, as if there is no meaning, or no point in making an effort to place the words within the proper mensurable structure, to emphasize his anger and sense of distr ust towards the old lie in the most straightforward manner.Although the pace is still speedy, the word choices here become stark(a) and very striking, as if to emulate a war reporter with a doomed eye uttering whatever comes up in his mind out of desperation. In this stanza, he graphically pictures the dreadful images of a man tormented by the gas attack, giving revolting descriptions related to body parts, which are horrifying and visually disturbing. And watch the white eyes writhing in his face / blood gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs. I assume the phrase is intended to stir the readers emotions as powerfully and shockingly as possible, by meaningfully describing the facial appearance of a soldier, who is normally stereotyped as a handsome and virile youth, deform into an gruesomely degrade face, as a result of the poisonous gas he could not help inhaling.What we observe from the poem is that Wilfred Owen has been successful in employing various literary devices, to crea te the ghastly and horrifying images of the war. He implicates that war is brutal and vile, and completely contradicts the idea of how sweet and proper it is to die for ones country. He overall gives a very tranquillise progression in the poem, in despite of the frightful imageries of the soldier suffering from the plaguing gas attack. In addition, Wilfred Owen makes use of irony to criticize not only Jessie Pope, but to all those people who believe warfare to be honoring and splendiferous tradition.