Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay

Dulce Et decorum Est is a poem written by Wilfred Owen, which undermines the idea that war if glorious by showing the horrific imagery and condemnation of war. The poems versions of reality creates a sharp and deeply ironic line between the civilians who prop up war efforts and the men who fight their battles; only those who have experienced war first hand can understand the trauma of losing a soldier or friend . It shows that dying for your country seems a lot less worthwhile than the trumped-up truisms of old patriotic battles cries imply. This can be seen from the title of the poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” which means it is sweet and ‘right to die for your country. Finally, it shows the physical pain and hardship that the soldiers has been through; ‘war is so painful
Owen suggests in this poem that only the soldiers that experienced war first hand can understand the hardship and trauma of fighting for their country and losing a fellow soldier feels like. The lines “in all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me,” puts the reader in the same position of the soldier (1st person), and shows that the speaker’s dreams are as real as his waking experience; the war becomes more of a mental battle. As well as this the first two lines, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” creates two similes; the soldiers are ‘like’ ‘old’ ‘beggars’ and ‘hags,’ which Owen suggests that their reality is so surreal that he needs to find comparative ways to describe it so that the readers can understand how gruesome his experience has been. Therefore, the use of reality in Dulce Et Decorum Est creates a sharp and deeply ironic line between the civilians who prop up war efforts, and the men who fight their battle, thus being glorious towards