Dulce et Decorum Est
By Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, 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; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.-- Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. |
POEM ANALYSIS:
The soldiers in this poem are mentally and Physically overcome by their experiences in war. Simile "like old beggars" and "like hags." The battle's about to end and the soldiers go away from the noise and lights of war. In the poem the soldiers are described as "distant rest." The "distant rest" means that the soldiers are heading to their death by going to the other side where the enemy is. "men march asleep" like if they were Istanbul. Repetition I. Repetition of a cry "Gas!Gas!Quick,boys!"Repetition of the word green, watching a man "stumbling", "yelling" and "floundering." the gas is doing lots of harm to the man,all his dreams are gone and are being guttering,choking and drowning. "Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori" means "to die for ones country" |