Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Essay Example

Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est," is narrated by Owen himself. The Poem portrays the story of a young soldier who watches his peer gruesomely suffocate from inhaling chlorine gas. Contrary to what one may assume, Owen portrays the soldiers as desperate and scared rather than heroic and honorary, "coughing like hags" (line 2). Owen uses the rhyming, imagery, and his tone in the poem to help reflect his own personal beliefs about war onto the reader. In the poem Owen uses rhyming as a way to emphasize particular words. He rhymes words such as "sludge” and “trudge" (line 2&4), "fumbling” and “stumbling" (lines 9&11) and "drowning” and “drowning" (lines 14&16). By saying the word “drowning” more than once he is able to emphasize how the traumatic the experience was for him. Owen’s poem is filled with detailed imagery that gives the reader insight into how it felt for Owen and the other soldiers of WWI to witness such gruesome, traumatizing events. He begins by painting the scene with words--what it looked like and what type of energy the scene emanated "And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;" (lines 4-6). It is also important to take notice that Owen did not portray the soldiers as heroic or triumphant, but instead weak and lifeless. Later in the poem Owen uses vivid imagery to the same effect--emphasis--in describing the suffocation of the soldier, “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning,” (lines 15&16) instead of just using one word such a choking, he uses three word that, together, create mental images of the soldier’s blood gurgling in his mouth inflicting tremendous pain. Owen’s tone in the overall poem reflects his negative opinion of war and frontline combat. In one particular instance Owen says that the horrific experience will forever haunt his dreams, “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight. He plunges at me, guttering,