Pity of War
The Theme of the Pity of War
“Dulce et Decorum Est”, by William Owen poems revealing the horrific and doleful aspects of war. This poet try to convey the reality and consequences of war through their poems.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est”, Owen graphically illustrates the truth about war. Creating very descriptive imagery and using various poetic devises, he manages to convey that war isn’t as glorious as some people may think. This message is spread throughout the poem; however it is strongest at the end.
The first stanza describes the shell-shocked and exhausted soldiers trudging through the sticky mud. Owen’s use of words such as “bent double”, “old beggars”, “knock-kneed”, “coughing like hags”, and
“sludge”, help to provide the reader with an image of the state the soldiers are in. The carefully chosen compound word, “blood-shod’ conjures a very visual and bitter image in the readers mind showing them the awful conditions the men had to put up with. Soft consonants are used to describe the gas, almost giving the phrase an onomatopoeic touch. There is a huge contrast in the second stanza as the pace of the poem speeds up rapidly. The first four words show this change in tempo. The punctuation used and the repetition of the word ‘GAS’ instantly changes the atmosphere, almost giving the reader a fright.
“An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,”
These two lines create a sense of panic and the words, filled with clumsy consonants, add to the tension. “Ecstasy”, normally associated with excitement, strangely fits very well in the phrase as it conveys horror brilliantly. The simple word “But” destroys any sense of relief in just one word as the reader knows straight away that something has gone wrong. The pace of the poem is slowed right down by the Assonance used, helping the reader realize that one of the soldiers didn’t get his helmet on “just in time”.
“As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.”
The
“Dulce et Decorum Est”, by William Owen poems revealing the horrific and doleful aspects of war. This poet try to convey the reality and consequences of war through their poems.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est”, Owen graphically illustrates the truth about war. Creating very descriptive imagery and using various poetic devises, he manages to convey that war isn’t as glorious as some people may think. This message is spread throughout the poem; however it is strongest at the end.
The first stanza describes the shell-shocked and exhausted soldiers trudging through the sticky mud. Owen’s use of words such as “bent double”, “old beggars”, “knock-kneed”, “coughing like hags”, and
“sludge”, help to provide the reader with an image of the state the soldiers are in. The carefully chosen compound word, “blood-shod’ conjures a very visual and bitter image in the readers mind showing them the awful conditions the men had to put up with. Soft consonants are used to describe the gas, almost giving the phrase an onomatopoeic touch. There is a huge contrast in the second stanza as the pace of the poem speeds up rapidly. The first four words show this change in tempo. The punctuation used and the repetition of the word ‘GAS’ instantly changes the atmosphere, almost giving the reader a fright.
“An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,”
These two lines create a sense of panic and the words, filled with clumsy consonants, add to the tension. “Ecstasy”, normally associated with excitement, strangely fits very well in the phrase as it conveys horror brilliantly. The simple word “But” destroys any sense of relief in just one word as the reader knows straight away that something has gone wrong. The pace of the poem is slowed right down by the Assonance used, helping the reader realize that one of the soldiers didn’t get his helmet on “just in time”.
“As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.”
The