Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay
Comment on the language in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’
Dulce et Decorum est is a dark poem which highlights the negative side of the war. Wilfred Owen, a very famous World War I poet, was really one of the soldiers who fought in the WWI. By this, he had firsthand experience on how war really was like. This led him to be able to write such poems just like this which were dark, real and told people how war really was like. Unlike other poems which make the war seem fun and enjoyable (such as ‘Who’s for the game?’ by Jessie Pope), it describes how dark, cruel and helpless war can be. Also, Dulce et Decorum Est especially contradicts the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum’ by G.R Glasgow, which once again is a poem which encourages people to join the war by telling them it was honourable and heroic to die for one’s country.
In this poem, Owen uses different kinds of techniques to emphasize the cruelty of the war. Often, he includes simile and metaphors to increase the impact on the readers or to exaggerate the situation – to make sure it was clear to everyone that the war was not honourable in any perspective. In the first line, the author introduces soldiers who are “like old beggars”. He uses simile and compares the soldiers to beggars, which makes the reader feel that these men are weak, vulnerable and …show more content…
The first paragraph is slow and steady as they “trudged” through, as if they did not even bother to walk properly and also as if they were sleep walking when he describes their action to marching “asleep”. However, in the second paragraph by using fast and loud verbs like “yelling”, “stumbling” and “flound’ring”, strong nouns like “fire” and “lime”, and punctuations like exclamation marks, tone suddenly changes into fast and hasty feeling. This usage of different tones reminds the reader that war is unexpected and anything can happen at any time, and also that it is very
Dulce et Decorum est is a dark poem which highlights the negative side of the war. Wilfred Owen, a very famous World War I poet, was really one of the soldiers who fought in the WWI. By this, he had firsthand experience on how war really was like. This led him to be able to write such poems just like this which were dark, real and told people how war really was like. Unlike other poems which make the war seem fun and enjoyable (such as ‘Who’s for the game?’ by Jessie Pope), it describes how dark, cruel and helpless war can be. Also, Dulce et Decorum Est especially contradicts the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum’ by G.R Glasgow, which once again is a poem which encourages people to join the war by telling them it was honourable and heroic to die for one’s country.
In this poem, Owen uses different kinds of techniques to emphasize the cruelty of the war. Often, he includes simile and metaphors to increase the impact on the readers or to exaggerate the situation – to make sure it was clear to everyone that the war was not honourable in any perspective. In the first line, the author introduces soldiers who are “like old beggars”. He uses simile and compares the soldiers to beggars, which makes the reader feel that these men are weak, vulnerable and …show more content…
The first paragraph is slow and steady as they “trudged” through, as if they did not even bother to walk properly and also as if they were sleep walking when he describes their action to marching “asleep”. However, in the second paragraph by using fast and loud verbs like “yelling”, “stumbling” and “flound’ring”, strong nouns like “fire” and “lime”, and punctuations like exclamation marks, tone suddenly changes into fast and hasty feeling. This usage of different tones reminds the reader that war is unexpected and anything can happen at any time, and also that it is very