Dulce Et Decorum Est

War is a horrible and tragic experience that has been glorified by some poets. In the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. One important idea in the text is that it is not sweet and right to die for your country. In the poem Owen describes the death of a fellow soldier by gas. Owen uses memorable language throughout the poem including word choice, similes and irony to convey this key idea of the horrors of war.

Owen uses similes throughout the poem to emphasize how downgraded and rundown the soldiers have become. The simile ‘like old beggars under sacks‘ makes a comparison between beggars which have the lowest position in society and are hopeless to the soldiers who are perceived as strong, brave and handsome. This emphasizes how weak the soldiers have become to be seen as beggars. Another simile in the poem is ‘coughing like hags’ which emphasizes that the soldiers that are supposed to be strong, fit and healthy are so sick and debilitated that they have become like hags. It has negative connotations because we think of hags as scary, old and sick and would never have thought that the young men fighting bravely for their country had been overworked and fatigued to the point of being like hags.

Owen uses interesting word choice throughout the poem. One example of this is the word blood-shod. This emphasizes the amount bloodshed that is occurring and what horrors the soldier have to continually endure as the soldiers feet are completely covered in blood of people that were killed like shoes. Another interesting word choice is the word guttering. This gives a vivid image of the soldier not being able to breath and drowning in his own pus as the gas surrounds him. Another word that Owen uses is flung. This accentuates the idea that the soldiers are disposable and their lives aren’t cared for. Owen also describes the difficulty of the men returning from the line. They do not march strongly but “trudge” through the mud