Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Essay

Dulce Et Decorum Est uses imagery to convey a sense of fear to the reader. The poem describes the soldiers as beggars and hags as they march through the battlefield fatigued. Wilfred uses this to show how the soldiers have become different people after spending a long time on the battlefield. Their only goal was to kill the enemy and follow orders from authority figures. The soldiers are oblivious when the gases attack starts and one of the soldier’s experiences the effects of the gas. Wilfred describes the man choking and dying. His lungs and body are being destroyed as he writhers in pain. This is used to show how gruesome the war can be and how not all deaths are peaceful. Soldiers will experience immeasurable pain while on the battlefield. The incurable sores they receive will haunt them and the experience will stay with them forever. Wilfred feels like the war is pointless. In the poem he states “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” (line 20). A devil that is sick of sin, would experience disillusionment as he is nothing without sin. The dying soldier also experiences disillusionment. In his last moments, he feels like the war was meaningless. Wilfred used imagery in his poem to show readers the atrocities that happen during a war.

The poem states, “If in some smothering dream, you too could pace” (line 17). Through this action he creates distance between the reader and the soldiers. The readers cannot understand what is happening to these soldiers. Instead of feeling like we share their pain, we experience it from a distance. Wilfred shows how we cannot comprehend the events that these young men experience. We are told through literature and stories, but those cannot convey the full experience. Individual’s who promote war yet haven’t experienced it cannot truly give a suitable