Dulce et Decorum Est

Dulce et Decorum Est

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 disappointed shells that dropped 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 floundering 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.

1) Title:

Once I saw this poem, I felt that it was a very interesting poem because of what I caught sight of. Firstly, the title is in Latin, which is an old language and is somehow going to be “extinct” in the world although some people still use it. It reads “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Well, I believe that you will be as amazed and puzzled as I was, which was to be not able to understand a single word that he is talking about. Anyway, this Latin phrase “Dulce et Decorum Est” is again repeated at the end of the poem, and instead of just saying that, it reads “ The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori”. I shall explain both phrases to you.

I had to do some background research on that in order to understand.

The title and the Latin exhortation of the final two lines are drawn from the phrase "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" written by the Ancient Roman poet -- Horace in:

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:
mors et fugacem persequitur virum
nec parcit inbellis iuventae
poplitibus timidove tergo.

"How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country:
Death pursues the man who flees,
spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs
Of battle-shy youths."

These words were well known and often quoted by supporters of the war near its inception and were, therefore, of particular relevance to soldiers of the era.

In 1913, the first line, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”, was inscribed on the wall of the chapel of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst In the final stanza of his poem, Owen refers to this as "The old Lie."

(From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_et_Decorum_Est)

So in fact, what Owen meant was that “It was sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”, according to the title and the last line.

2) General poem:

In here, after having some background knowledge as to what Owen meant about the title and the last line, we know that what he is saying is that war is horrendously horrible, and therefore, we should avoid it. This stance is just like how other poets write their poems, except for the fact that The Soldier by Rupert Brooke was glorifying the war.

So, the general direction of the poem is gearing towards the harmful effects of war. Now, we shall analyse the poem to fit my stance that war sucks and that it has horrible effect on the people.

3) Paragraphs:

There are four different paragraphs. I shall now be talking about Stanza 1. In Stanza 1, the poet describes the surroundings of war with a bang, stating that the soldiers were “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. It is a form of simile, to show how haggard the soldiers are. Also, I would like to bring your attention to the words “Bent double”. What does that mean? You may just see it as a soldier bending, under the heavy weight. However read between the lines. It states that “Bent double”. It actually shows you that the soldiers are like doubling, it shows that the soldiers are like weird, monstrous creatures as they double. Onto the next 3 lines, what does it give an impression of? “Bent double”, “Knock-kneed”, “haunting flares”? It obviously gives a sense of creepiness, a sense of weirdness, as to why the soldiers are being tortured so cruelly. This is to build up the atmosphere of the poem showing the harmful effects of war it has on the soldiers. On the fourth line, it states that “Men marched asleep”. This is somewhat not possible in our daily lives, it shows that the soldiers are abnormal, like creatures, as they have no brain of their own to control themselves. It creates a sense of fear towards these men, as they start to turn into funny creatures. On the fifth line, it states that the soldiers who had lost their shoes “limped on, blood-shod”. Don’t the soldiers feel a sense of pain as they walk on the gravel, or shells, barefooted? They should be able to feel the pain as blood oozed out of the wounds. However, they are not able to feel a thing at all, emphasizing on my point that they are like creatures. “All went lame, all blind” also restates my point that they were monsters. It was also somehow shown that the misery and pain is a universal condition, and that no one escaped from the wrath.

The second stanza, and it starts off with a larger BANG! “GAS! Gas!” gives the reader a sense of surprise and make them feel worried. It sends the readers a signal of foreshadowing, that something is going to happen, and sends the readers into a state of panic, making them empathise with the soldiers who are facing the gas. Also, it makes the reader understand the situation at that time when the generals or people of higher authority are shouting to the soldiers to get a move on as they have an “ecstasy of fumbling”. This again shows that the use of poisonous gas in the war, to kill the soldiers are quite common, and that they know the necessary steps as to how to avoid being killed. Owen also makes use of many words that are related to being nervous and worried, such as the action of “floundering”, “stumbling”, “clumsy”, “fumbling”. All these adjectives show how nervous the soldiers were at that point of time. Owen also uses the colour green a lot of times, to describe the surroundings of the gas, such as “lime”, “green sea” and “thick green light”.

The third stanza, albeit being the shortest of the lot, having just two lines, however, it is the most descriptive stanza of the entire poem. It is the most vivid in terms of the description, because Owen says that “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight”. It causes audience and readers to probably misunderstand what he is referring to as “helpless”. This is because he is probably talking about the soldier inside being helpless, or himless, saying that his eyesight is failing and he has helpless eyesight, or that in his sight, he is helpless and does not know what he is able to do to save his compatriot. Also, it forms a constant horror to him as he continuously sees the same horrific scene when his friend dies in the poisonous gas, being that “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”.

The fourth stanza, it is the conclusion for the entire poem. The dead, who was killed by the poisonous gas, had “white eyes writhing in his face” and the use of simile comes into use here when Owen states that “His hanging face, like a devil’s such of sin”. It once again allows me to re-emphasize on my point that the soldiers were like monsters, and also, when a person enters the world, and dies, the eyes carry the same innocence of the world and the same numbness in terms of the feelings described. Therefore, the person that is dead, looks like a slayed dead monster. Also, I would like to emphasize on the last phrase: “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori”. Compare the English translation of this to the title: How sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country and Sweet and fitting it is respectively. Well, it is a complete irony and the meanings are of an opposite. Therefore, Owen uses it as a complete irony to his title.

4) Conclusion:

Therefore, after analysing the poem with whatever resources I have, I believe that this is the best poem in describing war from a perspective, stating that war is a bane, instead of glorifying war. It is the most vividly described poem ever.

So a general recap. Owen is great in writing poems that include horrible scenes, and is a great writer when depicting the war scene. This is also because he had a first-hand experience in war and was once a soldier before. The title also totally contradicts with the last line, which is the most important line as it is like Owen’s stance to the war as a whole. Remember “the old Lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro patria mori”!