Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est Critical Essay ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ is a war poem by Wilfred Owen. It is about his experiences in the trenches in the Great War. The main themes are patriotism, suffering and the futility of death at war. This is a very moving poem and describes vividly the horrors of war. In this essay I will explore the themes and look at the word choice and other techniques through the poem. The word choice in stanza one is very effective. The stanza is describing soldiers moving from one trench to another. The simile, ‘coughing like hags’ and metaphor, ‘cursed through sludge’ in the second line create a vivid picture of the men moving very slowly through deep mud, struggling to do so as they are so ill and tired. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Off gas shells dropping softly behind. This also emphasises how tired the soldiers are and how their senses are numbed. ‘Dropping softly’ is contradicting as the shells would be extremely loud. It puts you in the soldiers shoes (or blood-encrusted feet) and makes you too hardly hear them.