“Dulce et Decorum Est” and “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars,” endorse different ideas, but fall under the same overall theme: war. Both poets use similar literary devices to propose their opposing viewpoints. These devices, though used in similar ways, create wildly different tones and imagery in the separate poems and make one poem feel somber and the other excited. “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem written by Wilfred Owen. In his work, Owen describes the horrors that his own eyes witnessed during his time served in the war. Throughout this poem, consisting of four stanzas (one octave, one sestet, one couplet, and one stanza of 12 lines), he implements detailed imagery with the use of his metaphors and similes. Coupled with his haunting tone, this poem immerses the reader and makes it easy to …show more content…
This poem is written to the reader, as can be seen through the poet’s use of “my friend” and “you” to address the reader, and the use of “my friend” makes the poet and the reader form a deeper connection. The metaphors, such as the metaphor comparing the poisonous gas to a green sea, enhance the image of the scenes. Using “poisonous gas” provides some imagery, but not as vivid imagery as the detailed description, “green sea.” Similes, such as “bent double, like beggars under sacks” and “his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,” are used as well to enhance the imagery and give the poem its haunting tone people pick up on when reading or listening. When Owen describes the blood-curdling scene of the dying man hurdling at him and slowly dying from the gas, the readers and listeners can hear the screams of the men echoing in