http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Lzo_EXXOQ
Wilfred Owen fought and died in the First World War and much of his poetry is about the horrors of that conflict.
The Poet
Wilfred Owen is one of the most famous war poets. He was born in 1893 and died in 1918, just one week from the end of World War One. His poetry is characterised by powerful descriptions of the conditions faced by soldiers in the trenches.
World War One
World War One took place between 1914 and 1918 and is remembered particularly for trench warfare and the use of gas. Owing to the technological innovations in use during it, the war is often referred to as the first modern war.
The War Poets
Poets such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg and Ivor Gurney have a strong association with World War One. As a group, their poems are often violent and realistic, challenging earlier poetry which communicated a pro-war message. The first-hand experience of war is arguably one reason why there is such a shift in the attitude of poets towards war.
Dulce et Decorum Est uses gruesome imagery to narrate the horrors of a gas attack.
An injured soldier carried out on a stretcher in World War 1
The poem describes a gas attack on a trench in World War One. The poem reveals to the reader the terrible consequences of a gas attack: 'the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs'. It also presents the unglamorous reality of trench life, with the soldiers described as being 'like old beggars'.
The Latin used at the end of the poem means 'It is sweet and honourable to die for your country', a concept Owen is strongly denying.
Wilfred Owen uses careful chosen words to convey the pain and suffering of the weary soldiers.
Structure
There is not a clearly defined structure to the poem, although Owen does make use of rhyme, mostly on alternate line endings.
The poem opens with a description of trench life and the conditions faced by the soldiers. Then comes the gas attack, and the poem offers a graphic description of the effects of such an attack.
Language
A soldier without a mask succumbs to the fumes
The opening stanza is characterised by language about 'fatigue': the soldiers 'marched asleep', they 'trudge', and 'limped on'. They are 'deaf', 'lame' and 'blind'; all rather pitiful language intended to reveal the reality of war and its effects.
The speaker describes a vision in a dream of a gas victim 'guttering, choking, drowning'. The listed verbs are associated with a lack of air and death.
The language used in the sections depicting the gas attack is strong, representing both the anguish of the victims of the gas attack as well as the effect on those haunted by what they have seen: 'watch the white eyes writhing in his face, / His hanging face'. The repetition of the word 'face' makes it clear which element disturbs the speaker most: the transformation in the face of the victim. The use of alliteration on the 'w' sound reflects the agonised twisting of the gas victim.
Wilfred Owen mounts a powerful argument against the complacency of those who believe war to be a glorious patriotic duty.
Attitudes and ideas
Storm troops advancing in battle
The opening of the poem suggests Owen pities the state to which the soldiers have fallen. Instead of youthful, strong fighters they are 'Bent double', 'Knock-kneed, coughing like hags'. Owen's imagery presents the men as prematurely old and weakened. War has broken these men, and they are described in the most unglamorous, inglorious manner. Owen's bitterness at this transformation is obvious.
Owen's disillusionment with war is also clear from the closing lines of the poem. After describing the horrifying effects of the gas attack he addresses the reader:
'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie'
He is rejecting the accepted attitude back at home that serving your country in war is glorious. He is critical of the 'high zest', or great enthusiasm, used to convince men to go to war. He sees war as brutal and wasteful of young lives. His choice of the word 'children' is also significant; impressionable young men are almost lured to war by the promise of 'desperate glory'.
- War transforms soldiers, breaking them physically and mentally: 'Bent double' 'Knock-kneed'. Rather than glorious men, Owen presents the soldiers as weakened old 'hags'.
- The experience of war is something no soldier can escape: 'In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me'.
- The effect of gas used in World War One is communicated to the reader through Owen's use of verbs linked to death by a lack of oxygen: 'guttering, choking, drowning', 'smothering'.
- Owen offers the reader very graphic imagery associated with suffering, aiming to present the truth about the war experience, arguably arising from his first-hand experience of war.
- Owen presents the soldiers as victims who have been betrayed by those who encouraged them to go to war. He uses words such as 'innocent' and 'children' to reinforce his positive attitude to the soldiers.
- Owen is bitter about war and the encouragement given to go to war. He angrily refers to 'The old Lie' that dying for your country is sweet and honourable.
- The detailed description of a soldier dying as a result of gas attack is intended to make the reader feel discomfort, forcing him or her to confront the reality of war, something which is far from honourable or sweet.
