Dulce Et Decorum Est

“Anyone, who truly wants to go to war, has never really been there before” Kosovar. This not so famous quote, tells about how blind people were to the horrors and tribulations of war due to a force we call propaganda. “Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori” is a controversial phrase used to describe the benefits of going to war. It has different translations but it basically states “it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”, this is just one of the many techniques a nation could use to shade the soldiers to the harsh reality of war. In this essay I will be evaluating two poems Dulce et Decorum est and The Charge of the Light Brigade. “Dulce et Decorum” est is a poem about war written by Wilfred Owen during World War 1 in 1917-1918. He was a soldier who experienced war first hand and wrote his poem with primary information. “The Charge of The Light Brigade” is also a poem about war that was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, a poet Laureate during the 19th Century. Tennyson uses secondary information to write his poem. Both poems have a direct link to the quote but both have different perspectives of if it really is sweet and fitting to die for ones country. Within the evaluation of the poems I will be analysing Language, Form and Structure, Themes and Context for each poem and at the end I will sum up the main differences and similarities between the two poems.

“Dulce et Decorum est”
In the poem Wilfred Owen uses similes to portray the soldiers as weary, lesser beings that have aged prematurely.
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags.”
The similes comparing the soldiers to “beggars” and “hags” already wipes away the thought of soldiers’ being young, strong, healthy, able bodied men. The words “knock-kneed” and “coughing” tells us that war is physically demeaning. Owen already starts to show the reality of war. This phrase also tells us about how young men could be transformed into old people. An alternative