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 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,
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.

Right from the title the reader immediately notices the title is written in Latin. So the reader may ask himself why the title is not written in English.

Since the meaning of Dulce et Decorum Est is “it is sweet and honourable” the poet may communicate something good.

The poem is composed by four irregular verse paragraphs. Each paragraph has a function: the first one describes the general condition of men involved in the war, the second and the third one sketches briefly the shock of a gas attack, and the last one dwells on the aftermath of this tragic event on someone who lives through it.

The verse paragraph is a description of a group of demoralized soldiers retreating from the front lines of the battlefield.

The men are clearly fatigued “Men marched asleep”, ”they limped on, blood-shod”.

Their dragging is conveyed by the repetition of sound b, d and k (bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed).

Moreover, the reader can notice that all senses are mangled by the conflict: all went lame; all blind; drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired.

Interesting is to highlight the poet’s choice to create short sentence to reproduce the fragmentary nature of the war.

The second verse paragraph opens up with a shout: ”Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” that places the reader in a episode of war.The poet is able to make the horrors of warfare come alive before readers’ eyes

Then, suddenly, someone shouts “Gas! GAS!” (line 9), and the men go into an “ecstasy of fumbling” (line 9) to put on masks before the deadly poison can take their lives.All but one are successful;

The similarity comperes Gas with the sea:”as under a green gas, I saw him drowning”. It conveys image of an extended place where is impossible survive.

The narrator looks out from behind the glass of his protective mask into the “green sea” (line 14) that the gas has created around him, watching helplessly as one of his fellow soldiers dies in agony.

“In all my dreams before my helpless sight/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” So the poet can’t forget that episode: it represents an example of the psychological problems provoked by the war.

Interesting is to notice the poet lingers both on the physic problems (all went lame,..) and the psychological ones(poet’s obsession for the episode).

Although it is often unwise to associate the narrator of a poem with its author, it is quite likely that in “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen is speaking in his own voice. His method of direct address to the reader makes his appeal in the final lines especially compelling.

In the last verse paragraph the narrator offers some bitter advice to readers about the nature of warfare and the outcome of blind patriotism.

Owen describes his experience of walking behind the wagon in which the dead man has been placed. That sight, he says, would prevent any man from adopting glibly the notion that dying for one’s country is somehow noble.

The vivid and in-depth soldier’s connotation has the function to contrast with the sentence”dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”.