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Analysis Of Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen

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In "Dulce Et Decorum Est," Wilfred Owen is conveying numerous ideas that relate to war and the horrendous effects. No civilian truly understood then what war was actually like for the men, which brought about on anti-war poetry such as this one. The key ideas of this poem are that of the actual realities of war and the consequences. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" brings the reader into reality with its vivid imagery and shows the true horrors war brings mentally and physically. The way Owen's accomplishes these concepts is by a variety of poetic language techniques along with great usage of textual detail. Owen's anti-war poem is saying that "if one knew" how horrible war was, one wouldn't dare tell children the "old lie" that "it is glorious to die …show more content…

Within the beginning of the poem, the reader is verbally shown the harsh conditions the soldiers were subjected to and how they mentally felt. Owen's begins right away addressing the soldiers struggling through the trenches of war "coughing [like] hags," essentially referring them to sick old women (line 2, Owen). He also writes how the men are each individually struggling; limping, lame, blind and deaf to further express that they are exhausted and worn down from war. Mary Paquette, author of "The Aftermath of War: Spiritual Distress" expresses that soldiers who are fighting within any war are subjected to "extreme and sometimes inhuman circumstances that test the limits of their psychological health" (143). The soldiers in the poem are all weakened by injuries and fatigue. The desperation of soldiers in war is obvious as they carry on regardless of being "drunk with fatigue" (line 7, Owen). These men are going through something that they will inevitably never forget. Paquette states that veterans will essentially never "forget what they experienced and what they did" and that war is a "private hell [for] many veterans [to] live with for the rest of their lives" (143). In the article "Spiritual Features of War-Related Moral Injury: A Primer for Clinicians," by Jennifer Wortmann and et al. it is quoted that "Warzone experiences that violate deeply held moral beliefs and …show more content…

Paquette expresses that the military does a fantastic job taking someone and preparing them for war, yet they are "changed forever" (143). She continues to express that there is no "method [of] reversing the process of a ‘trained killer' back into [a] normal and adjusted civilian" (143). Within the poem, some views of the men's changes are viewed as "incurable sores on innocent tongues" (line 24, Owen). The "incurable sores" highlights the negative effects war had on men because it is so visual and it personifies the abstract quality in human form. "Innocent tongues" being about the young men sent to war, believing this is an honorable act on their end. In numerous ways, one could feel a sense of disgust due to the misrepresentation and the potential lies that the soldiers could have been fed. Thus, it is shown in the poem that there is no honor in war, it only taints and strips young men of their

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This does not show anything about war being sweet. For example, Owen makes us picture a soldier’s “hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” (20). This clearly shows us how the man’s face is burning off. The final way authors protest war is by demonstrating structure. In “ The Yellow Birds” Kevin Powers does not use any complete sentences.

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“Dulce Et Decorum Est” is the title of a poem by, Wilfred Owen, in which he recounts his first hand experience as a soldier in gas warfare era World War I. The poem goes on to mention the bleak condition of other men involved in the war as well as display the shock of a gas attack. At first sight, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” may seem like a first hand account of the experiences of World War I, however the text articulates a horrifying mood, war imagery, and situational irony to overthrow the noble statement of patriotism, “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori1,” by showing the disgrace of war. Substantially, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” has a hidden objective meant to subconsciously alert common people.

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Wilfred Owen, a British war poet, wrote about World War I. His poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” was written in 1917 while he was in the hospital recovering from shell shock. Ironically, Owen died in battle one week before the war ended in 1918. He was twenty-five years old; however, his war experiences matured him far beyond his age. The title of the poem translates to “it is sweet and proper.”

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Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ structure hints to the uncertainty of war. In the first eight lined stanza, Owen describes the soldiers from a third person point of view. The second stanza is shorter and consists of six lines. This stanza is more personal and is written from a first person 's point of view. This stanza reflects the pace of the soldiers as everything is fast and uncoordinated because of the gas, anxiety and the clumsiness of the soldiers.

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Wilfred Owen wrote the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. This poem graphically describes how terrible war is. Owen experienced war first hand when he fought and was killed in World War One. He wrote the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” to attempt to change the image of what war was at the time. During his time many young men saw war as fun and honorable.

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“Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen is one of the most popular war poems ever written. He is warning young men eager for World War I, "the children ardent for some desperate glory," (Owen line 26) that war is not what it seems. The media and recruiters made the war seem like it was glorious and exciting and something that turned a boy into a man. Although the war did change a boy into a man, there was nothing glorious and exciting about fighting for your country. Instead, it was brutal and one of the worst things a person could ever experience.

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Most people believes war can be a implement. But don't realize war can affect a soldier or a person mentally and physically. Most protesters protest against war by using imagery, irony, and structure. tThe poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen tries to show a image of desperation, to prove that war isn't a honor but its inadequate.

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The irregularity of the length of the stanzas, alongside with the variation of the meter and the use of punctuation, helps Owen creating an unusual rhythm, which emphasizes the fact that there is not a pleasant melody in this poem, because war is definitely not a pleasant experience. The first line of the fourth stanza introduces the addressee of this poem, the “you” (Owen 17), who Owen later calls “My friend” (25). The poem is made to be read by Jessie Pope, a woman who used to publicize poems urging men to enlist during the war (Greenblatt 2037). However, it is not simply Jessie Pope who should read the poem, but all the people who pushed young men to war and glorified the experience of the war, by telling to children “The old Lie” (Owen

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Therefore, there is a link of idea about ‘anti-war feeling’ throughout his poems. Wilfred Owen expresses his anti-war feeling through the literary techniques; simile, personification, metaphor, and ailteration. To fully express his anti-war feeling about the reality of war, Owen

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However there were some lines which expressed regret, as the soldier could no longer feel that way. In contrast to the warriors current tone of despair and hopelessness, Owen continues to depict the soldiers pre-war persona in inviting descriptions. “When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees, / And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim — / In the old times, before he threw away his knees.” This switch in tones is abrupt to the extent that it harshened the tone and implied anger; as if to express how quickly the warrior had lost all the good in his life. In contrast with the angry and harsh tone, the alliteration creates a fascinating one which is joined by the alluring one created with the description of the females.

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