War In Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est

War is beautiful. War is necessary. We must fight because we are right, and the enemy is wrong. When raised in a nation that is free, these three statements will be echoed until it is time to be shipped off to battle. There is no argument or resistance, only a generation of young men that believe their right is not to be free, but to die in hopes that their sacrifice will bring freedom to those they love. “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen is a bitter contradiction about the common belief that war is glorious, heroic, and worthy. Throughout the poem, Owen used first hand experiences to detail the events of war that burned into his brain and haunted him for the rest of his life. This poem has remained very relevant throughout the 100 years

Using the last 12 lines to display hideous images of the effects of the poison gas that stole the life from his comrade, “froth-corrupted lungs” (22), “white eyes writhing in his face,” (19) and “guttering, choking, drowning,” (18) are just some of the ways Owen forces the reader to imagine the brutal event that frequents his mind. The poem eventually becomes a barrage of detail and description of the horrid events that he recalls from his time near a battlefield. Owen uses his experience to hammer home how far humanity can stray from what we have convinced ourselves is normal life. Rounding off his efforts to dissuade his audience from buying into the lies told by his older countrymen, Owen cautions his audience to heed the words that they might hear at home. “Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori” (27-28). In English, “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.” (Mays 627) From the Roman poet Horace, this ironic quoting highlights Owen’s disdain for the general belief in the practice of war. The heavy amount of sarcasm makes for very effective anti-war

Using both sarcasm and his hellish experience to criticize the fantasizing of war, Owen breaks down the common narrative of mankind’s ugliest features. It cannot be refuted that these depictions of war are anything but horrific and tragic, but with these awful consequences come a world of beauty. War is not about the men who die on the battlefield. Their sacrifices will be remembered throughout history, but they are not putting their life on the line so they can come home and have a hero’s welcome. They fight for the women and children they leave behind. They fight so their country can prosper for generations. If we could live in a world without bloodshed and conflict, that would be the most amazing gift humanity could receive, but that is not reality. We will continue to live in a world of immense sacrifice so that the innocent can experience the gift of life and prosper on this beautiful