Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est

Dulce et Decorum Est is a poem written by Wilfred Owen in 1917.

The strike of the title is written in Latin. This choice is functional to draw the reader attention right from the start. The ideal readers of the poem, since Owen is writing during the First World War, are common people and soldier. Indeed, even if the title is in Latin his meaning comes to light easily. Moreover, it can be a quotation. The curiosity raises by the title has the purpose to go on reading. Considering the general comprehension of the whole poem, the intelligent reader immediately gather the topic, which is the wickedness of the use of gas. The poem, which is made up into four different stanzas, as a matter of fact traces the consequences of the modern use of gas as a weapon of destruction.

In the first quatrain the speaking voice focuses the attention on the difficulties and the efforts faced by soldiers at the frontline: “All went lame; all blind; / Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots”

The second quatrain, instead, appeals to sight and hearing. It seems that the reader fights alongside the speaking voice and perceive with him the absurdity of war. The poet paints the scene as the soldiers are quick to don their helmets to protect themselves from enemy fire.

The third quatrain represents the difficult memories of the speaking voice in having looked death in a soldier. The metaphor is developed in the last stanza, the longest one. Terrible image comes to the poet’s mind: the white eyes of the soldier and his face cut off by the gas.