Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen
· Dulce et decorum est - it is good and honourable
· Propaganda was used to recruit young men
· Title – paradoxical as title sounds like a pro-war poem, while the poem is anti-war
· Iambic Pentameter – imitates constant gunfire of war
· 28 lines – double the length of a regular sonnet = emphasis on length of war (or how long war/the
walk felt to the soldiers described in the poem)
· Rhyme scheme – emphasises uniformity of soldiers or how the killing/explosions/horror was
constant
· Soldiers are returning to rest camp after their time
at the front lines
1 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
· Old beggars – soldiers look defeated, are
carrying everything they possess = heavy
· Knock-kneed – can barely walk from exhaustion
· Cursed – not an enjoyable experience, indicates
negativity
Soldiers are swearing OR government has
cursed them (inflicted them with negativity)
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed
2 · Sludge – walking through the mush/dead
through sludge,
bodies/blood/mud etc.
· Hag – revolting old women, phlegm cough
· Contrast – young soldiers vs old hags =
emphasis on the toll of war on the soldiers’
bodies
· Haunting – memories of their times at the front
lines, white-grey light of flares = eerie
Till on the haunting flares we turned our
3 atmosphere/ghostly light
backs,
· Flares – used to signal / send messages / check
for people creeping up on front lines
4 And towards our distant rest began to trudge. · Trudge – contrast with march = exhaustion
· Marched asleep – so exhausted that they can’t
function
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their
5 · Metaphor – soldiers have no purpose anymore
boots,
as they are weak and wounded OR have actually
lost their limbs due to fungi/explosions/foot rot
· Blood-shod – soldiers have no limb left, just a
bloody stump OR have a “shoe” of their own
blood (blisters) or other peoples’ (from the mud)
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all Shod = wearing shoes (like a horse)
6
blind; Dehumanises the soldiers – animals get shod
· Lame…blind – young athletic men have been
reduced to nothing
· Blind – from flares OR extremely tired
· Sleep deprivation has the same effect as being
7 Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
drunk
· Five-Nines – bombs
· Tired – ammunition has been almost used up
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped · Deaf – soldiers are so used to constant
8
behind. explosions that they don’t notice the sound of
them any more OR they are so tired that they
don’t care about what is going on around them
· RHYTHM:
Stanza 1 = slowed by commas, semicolons (force reader to pause)
Line 9 = short words speed up pace, no full sentences, dash links phrases = no pause
· A gas bomb has been released
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of · Ecstasy – overwhelming chaos
9
fumbling · Fumbling – trying to move so quickly that it
actually takes longer
10 Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, ·
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