Dulce Et Decorum Est

I never liked poetry. I would rather watch grass grow then read poetry. But occasionally some poems would stand out. Dulce et Decorum Est is one of them. I was personally moved by this well-crafted poem because the poet put you right in the middle of the soldier’s pain and misery in the trenches. The poet Wilfred Owen was thought of to have written this poem between the 8th October 1917 and March 1918. He is said to be the best war poet ever. Wilfred was born on the 18 March 1993 in Oswestry, England and died November 4 1918 at Sambre-Oise Canal, France. Before his death Wilfred wrote a various amount of well-known poems such as “Futility” and “Insensibility”. Wilfred died exactly one week before Armistice was sung. This signified the ending of the war. The poem recounts the First World War and described one of the many mustard attacks which were used. Dulce et Decorum Est is directed at us so we can appreciate how brutal war is. Apon further research on Wilfred Owen, I discovered that he wrote most of his poems from previous experiences of war.

The theme of the poem Dulce et Decorum Est is about the waste of life. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’” the line which translates to “It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country” is the “Old Lie” which the poet despised of in the poem.

“Gas! Gas!”, “Drowning”, are examples of how the poem started to intensify by the use of exclamation marks and high modality. Wilfred used a rhyming scheme which made the poem flow. The scheme of a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f continued throughout the poem from start to finish. The effect of repetition only occurred in the poem once. “Gas! Gas!” the thought which make most people frightened, helped the poem break away from its soft language to the intensified harsh language which is gas