Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen was a First World War soldier and poet.  He wrote many notable poems including ‘Dulce et decorum’ which I will now analyse.

The poem is written in stanza style and the language is descriptive and illustrative.  The rhyme scheme is ABAB and Owen uses carefully chosen words to convey the horrific and crippling effects of war on the soldiers.  The opening lines of the poem describe trench warfare and how the ‘men marched asleep,’ symbolising their blind conformity.  The language used in this stanza is deliberate and complex which effectively highlights the terrible conditions that the soldiers had to endure.

The second stanza graphically describes the effects of a gas attack, ‘Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea I saw him drowning.’ The second stanza is also written using conversational style language in places.  The tone is demanding and urgent - ‘Gas! GAS! Quick boys!.’

‘Guttering, choking, drowning’ are used to help the reader associate the words with the soldier’s impending death.  ‘Watch, the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face’ depicts the severity of the effect that the gas attack has on all the soldiers.  Those physically harmed from the gas attack and those who witnessed it are haunted by the atrocity.  Owen forces  the reader to face the heinous nature of war head on.

‘The blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues’ – Owen uses such descriptive language and imagery to convey just how degrading and surreal the destruction of the human body can be.

The poet lashes out at those who encouraged him to join the army when he writes, ‘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.’  The last line in the poem is ironic and illustrates the message that war is not as romantic and fulfilling as it is so often portrayed.