How Wilfred Owen Presents the Horror of War in Dulce et Decorum est

?Dulce Et Decorum Est? belongs to the genre of sonnets, which expresses a single theme or idea. The allusion or reference is to an historical event referred to as World War I. This particular poem's theme or idea is the horror of war and how young men are led to believe that death and honor are same. The poem addresses the falsehood, that war is glorious, that it is noble, it describes the true horror and waste that is war, this poem exhibits the gruesome imagery of World War I, it also conveys Owens strongly anti-war sentiments to the reader. He makes use of a simple, regular rhyme scheme, which makes the poem sound almost like a child's poem or nursery rhyme. Owens use of

General William Tecumseh Sherman stated that, “War is cruelty” (Sherman). Yet past and present media propaganda use recruitment advertisements to portray military service as a noble and glorious profession. A majority of military propaganda that I have seen, heard, or read, is depicted in a positive manner. War propaganda focuses on the concrete aspects of benefits, skill development, and travel. Pictures of soldiers smiling and appearing content with their military profession are prominently displayed in schools, shopping centers, and recruitment offices nationwide. Moreover, military recruitment propaganda shows soldiers appearing invincible and ready to fight. These clean-cut poster

DULCE ET DECORUM EST by Wilfred Owen, and This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun, are both powerful texts that give the reader sympathy and strong emotional experiences. When comparing the two texts, there are multiple aspects that they share, for example they both convey a strong message on survival and what it’s like to be faced with death, however the setting, symbolism and themes like hope, and the power of thought are very different.

anything to help the dying man. This is not how it is made out to be,

Many of the best poets are driven by a need to communicate the reality of the situation, particularly to those who are innocent, especially in times of war. Through the detailed and close analysis of texts we can explore how these poems, utilize form and language to convey their message or warning, or simply portray the reality of war. A poet must warn the innocent of the reality of war, and that is why all poets must be truthful, an example being, Wilfred Owen’s war poems in which Owen portrays a message, warning all readers, in which his horrific first hand experiences of WW1, highly refute and contradict the governments glorified portrayal of war. He also conveys his message that the real truth of war, is the brutal and pointless deaths of many, and if the patriots back home knew what he experienced first handedly, they would reconsider their support for the so called “cause” which can be seen specifically in his war poems; Dulce et decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed youth.

Wilfred Owen through his poetry reveals the truth of war. His poem “Dulce et Decorum est,” refutes the nationalistic sense of duty instead Owen highlights the exploitation of soldiers in a torturous environment. Furthermore, the abuse and mistreatment of the soldiers is portrayed in ” Anthem for doomed youth” to demonstrate the truth of war. Owen challenges the nationalistic propaganda surrounding the duty of war by highlighting the truth that war is inhumane in his poem, “Dulce et Decorum est”.

The poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Mental Cases,” both by, Wilfred Owen, deal with the effect of war on the minds of soldiers and its tendency to persist in peoples’ minds. Through his expert use of personification and grotesque visual imagery Owen paints a disturbing picture of war in his reader’s mind. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen provides the reader with a gruesome depiction of a soldier’s seemingly random death.

Wilfred Owen, in his poem Dulce et Decorum Est presents war as pointless, torturous and uncertain. He makes it clear that he finds the idea of war over-glorified, this he conveys by recounting what could be his own experience as Owen was a Soldier fighting in World War I. To communicate his contradiction to the glorification of war, he portrays its harsh reality in a first person perspective.

Throughout the duration of this essay I will look to answer the question written above, with the use of Point, Evidence and Explanation, in the subtopics of Interpretation, Structure, Language, Imagery and Personal Response.

With all the powerful imagery in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, it's hard to see the fact that one is reading a poem and not a brutal vivid description of warfare. In Owen’s poem, he talks about the many things a soldier would go through during World War One, including the harshness of the mustard gas attack he was involved in. In the poem there are many meanings someone could take from reading it; with some of the more ostensible meanings being, warfare is brutal, soldiers suffer both mentally and physically, and that reality to a soldier is different than the reality to a citizen. In the first few stanzas, Owen talks about what it is really like to be a soldier during the first World War.

Dulce et Decorum Est takes the reader on a treacherous march through the poisonous gas attacks in the muddy trenches of World War I. The poem, written by Wilfred Owen as he served on the front lines of the war, was published in 1920 after his death in battle. During the time of Owen’s military service, chemical weaponry was introduced into the war. As reported in This Day in History: April 22, “German forces shock Allied soldiers along the western front by firing more than 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas … This was the first major gas attack by the Germans, and it devastated the Allied line” ("Germans introduce poison gas").

The poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen portrays the horrors of World War I with the horrific imagery and the startling use of words he uses. He describes his experience of a gas attack where he lost a member of his squadron and the lasting impact it had on him. He describes how terrible the conditions were for the soldiers and just how bad it was. By doing this he is trying to help stop other soldiers from experiencing what happened in a shortage of time.

helmets or what seems to be gas masks, one does not get it in time and

Wilfred Owen’s condemnation of war and its cruel ability to dehumanise individuals displays to readers the brutal nature of war, portrayed through the perspective of a soldier’s own experience. This true insidious nature of war is explored throughout his poems ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. Owen’s use of poetic devices as well as the representation of the soldier’s perspective allows him to challenge the political ideologies of the time and reveal the true atrocities of war, exposing the lies of the government’s propaganda.

Wilfred Owen successfully creates the truthful and terrifying image of war within his poems. The loss, sacrifice, urgency and pity of war are shown within the themes of his poetry and the use of strong figurative language; sensory imagery and tone contribute to the reader. This enables the reader to appreciate Owen’s comments about the hopelessness of war and the sacrifice the men around him went through within his poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’ and ‘Futility’.