DULCE ET DECORUM ESTBy WILFRED OWEN
This poem was written during war time, and relates not only of the conditions of the soldiers in a battlefield, but an incident which haunted the poet’s every dream. In the first stanza, the poet emphasises the physical strain and suffering of those who go to war. The poet was talking about young men, and yet he describes them as ‘knock-kneed’, ‘coughing like hags’ ,‘like old beggars’ . These men were far from strong. They were under great physical strain. They hardly had the strenght to walk. As the poet says: “All went deaf, all blind”. Although in this stanza the poet emphasises mainly their physical suffering, he gives a slight indication to what has to come ahead.