`dulce Et Decorum Est` - Literary Analaysis

During the course of Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen, the Horatian image of a glorified and idealized war is stripped away to reveal the bitter and vicious nature of a new era in the history of conflict. Language and imagery are employed to great effect in conveying this notion; in the rejection of the 'strong and patriotic soldier' stereotype, the descri ption of the chlorine gas attack, the portrayal of the agonized and dying soldier, and the final scathing invective against those who exalt war, for example the intended target of the poem, Jessie Pope.

Stanza One of the poem uses depressing and pathetic language to convey an image of a ragged band of soldiers forging on through a torn-up battlefield. Owen describes the soldiers as 'bent double, like old beggars'. This dispels the romanticized notion of soldiers as proud, upright, masculine beings; presenting them instead as broken and exhausted, stumbling onwards, thinking only of survival and rest, not patriotism and upholding the nation. Their crumbling exterior state reflects their internal psychological weariness and underlines the devastating mental impacts of such a brutal conflict. The word 'cursed' is utilized as a verb in the phrase 'cursed through sludge'- the effect of this being that the men are presented as resenting everything about the War and have become bitter and disillusioned. The nightmarish quality of the war is highlighted by the descri ption of men 'marching asleep'; this enhances the notion that War is so far removed from the normalities of life it almost seems unreal- a strange and terrifying dream from which there is no real escape. An alternative reading of this quote could suggest that the men have become less than human beings; they are reduced to automatons, machine-like, continuing their movements despite the unconsciousness of their minds. This portrays the War as destructively repetitive, insinuating itself in every fibre of the men's being. The somewhat hyperbolic declaration that 'All went lame, all blind' shows how the men had lost sight of the objectives of the War as it descended into a bloody and lawless conflict with both sides just caring about how much they hate the other. On a more obvious level, this could also refer to the clouded senses and numbed bodies of the soldiers, overcome by the sheer stress of the War. By emasculating the soldiers and describing the enhancement of their weaknesses and faults, Owen conveys the harsh reality of war to its proponents.

Stanzas Two and Three convey not only the panic and fear that overtakes men in the heat of war, but the weight and devastating impact of a commander's responsibility and the caustic guilt that ensues from perceived failure of one's duties. The first four words of the second stanza; 'Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!' are disjointed, fractured and monosyllabic. They inject pace into the poem, forcing the tempo up from the sluggish lethargy of the first verse, creating a sense of raw panic and terror. The words seem almost incongruous; they do not belong in the poem; they are frenzied orders shouted out in the midst of a war. This lends a sense of gritty realism to the poem and is a scathing retort to the archaic concept of a refined, calm and unruffled soldier. The soldiers are presented as clumsy, weak and pathetic, unable to fulfil even simple tasks. Verbs such as 'flound'ring' add a sense of helplessness and inability. Owen is trying to present the simple truth to the audience; war does not make men, it breaks them. Sickening language is used to conjure up the shocking image of a man literally drowning in his own blood as a result of the chlorine gas attack (evidenced by the constant references to the colour 'green'). Wilfred Owen, as captain of the regiment, is forced to watch in horror as one of his men self-destructs before his powerless gaze. This terrible feeling of empty, bitter loss, and the heavy toll that failed responsibility exacts; especially such a weighty one as that of a man's life; further emphasizes the cruelty of war. The long-term psychological damage wrought by such experiences is also explored in the phrase 'in all my dreams', connoting that Owen has frequent nightmares about this episode and is haunted by the memory of the man he watched die whilst standing by, unable to help. Metaphorical techniques are put to considerable effect in the third stanza; contained within the harsh alliterative verbs is the word 'guttering'; one that alludes to the failing fire of a flickering candle. This is a powerful over-arching allegory of the war- light into darkness, hope into despair, life into death; the conflict strips away everything that is good in the world and replaces it with pointless destruction. By illustrating the terror of war, and the self-inflicted emotional devastation that arises from the perceived failure of responsibility, Owen recreates the pain of war.

Grotesque and sickening language is used in the descri ption of the dying soldier to express the abhorrent nature of war. Owen describes the asphyxiated man as being 'flung' into a wagon. He is shown no respect or dignity- in the thick of combat there is no time to mourn the fallen or help the wounded. The overriding power of survival instinct over the preservation of others is expressed in this phrase: 'Behind the wagon that we flung him in': thus illustrating how war strips away all pretences of interpersonal help. All that matters to a soldier in war is his own life. Demonic and hideous imagery is used to increase the reader's sense of revulsion, for example 'white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face, like a devil's.froth-corrupted'. The phrase expresses the sheer agony that the soldier is enduring and thus removes the delusion of a clean, painless war. The words 'bitter as the cud' are a reflection of Owen's own disgust and loathing of the pointless sacrifices that have been made. The destruction of purity is also a key theme that Owen puts forward, exemplified in the phrase 'incurable sores on innocent tongues', displaying how war warps and destroys good men. In this section of the stanza, Owen uses shocking and degraded descri ptions to illustrate the darkness of war that he bears witness to.

Owen's uses critical and vehement language against those who perpetuate an exalted illusion of true war to convey his anger at such misdirection of the people. A darkly sarcastic tone is utilized when Owen refers to Pope (key audience of his poem) as 'friend', as they are anything but; their views and opinions are polar opposites. Owen is principally judgmental on the 'brainwashing' of the masses by jingoistic, nationalistic war poetry; he refers to the people as 'desperate for glory' and in 'high zest', striving for a dream that does not exist. His anger is further expressed in his descri ption of potential soldiers as 'children'. This demonstrates that those being thrown into the war are not even men yet-their decisions are born of haste and a desire for recognition, not a real belief in the objectives of war. His reference to the Horatian image of idealized war as an 'old Lie' is particularly strong; he is portraying the concept as anachronistic, showing the reader that such one-on-one, cavalry charge heroics are long gone- war has become inhuman, destructive, the face of death no longer a fellow man but the flash of a machine gun as hundreds of men are torn apart in an instant. The last two lines of the poem are written in Latin- 'Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori', roughly translated into modern English syntax as 'It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country'. The choice of language is somewhat unusual; Owen could have written this final message in English. However, his choice of Latin, a dead tongue, reflects the nature of the Horatian concept as dead and useless. By carefully selected words and phrasing, Owen is able to expose the horror of war and condemn those who pretend it to be something other than what it really is.

If ever there was a war poem that holds more influence and power in the minds of the people, a war poem that ever did more to expose and dethrone the illusion of a glorious war, it must have been wrought by a master. Although it has points of criticism, such as awkward similes, it is for all its flaws a masterpiece of horror and harsh descri ption that reveals the dark heart of the First World War. Owen's impressive and total command of the English language, and the images that he forms in our minds utterly overshadows every false piece of nationalistic fiction that drew thousands of men in search of adventure and delivered them into the hands of Death.