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Dulce Et Decorum Est Poetry Essay

Decent Essays

Describe at least ONE memorable use of language in the text(s)
Explain how this use of language helped you understand one or more key ideas in the text(s).
In the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and ‘The Send-Off’ by Wilfred Owen, he uses a variety of language techniques including metaphor, personification and emotive expressive language to create a huge impact on readers evoking feelings such as horror and pity of the soldiers and of war. Owen’s intention of using these effective language techniques was to convey the horrific reality of war and to shatter the myth of war as a glorious mission.
World War 1 (also known as the ‘Great War’) was a major war centered around Europe that involved countries from all over the globe between 1914 and …show more content…

Even in the present, a number of soldiers returning from war commit suicide due to their unfathomable guilt of surviving and the horrible traumatizing memories that continue to besiege them.
The poet tells us, the glory of war is just an “old lie”. Owen shows the indignity of death in war as the dying man was “flung” in a wagon instead of being honored for his bravery and duty as the way they were told. The last stanza goes into sickening detail of the dying man, “at every jolt the blood – come gargling from his froth-corrupted lungs”, the “white eyes writhing” in his face. The use of alliteration and assonance emphasizes how the memory has a powerful impact on those who witnessed the scene. Owen’s vivid imagery consumes the reader in horror, pity, shock, even disgust and is enough to sear the heart and mind. The cruel reality of war can be clearly seen as men lose their lives in the most pointless futile manner as they are just “flung” aside during death. Just by reading, the readers can perceive Owen’s bitter and disparaging tone towards war, the propaganda and sectors of society who glorified it.
During those times before there was any media coverage, people only relied on the government and propaganda. In Owen’s preface to an anthology of his poems published posthumously, he stated “my subject is war, and the pity of war.” “All a poet can do today is warn. That is why true poets must be truthful.

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