Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen Essay

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In the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” Wilfred Owen reinforces the theme that war is horrible and pointless. Owens purpose is to highlight that there is nothing sweet, honorable or fitting about dying for your country. In this essay I will outline Owens use of poetic techniques including metaphor, similes, emotive language and descriptive verbs to manipulate the readers response and encourage us to reconsider the effects of war.

One way in which Owen expresses the idea that war is horrible and pointless is through the use of metaphor. A clear example of this is when one of Owens fellow soldiers dies in a gas attack “as under a green sea I saw him drowning”. By using a metaphor to compare the gas to a “green sea” Owen gives the reader an image of the horror of dying from a gas attack and how it was as if he was drowning in an acid like sea. The impact is reinforced with the verbs in the line “he plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning” to show just how truly horrific the soldiers death was. What this allows Owen to do is show the reader that dying in a war wasn’t a …show more content…

This is expressed in the line “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. The reason this technique is effective is because it makes it apparent that war has aged the soldiers and they’ve lost all hope and dignity. Furthermore the impact here is supported from the adjective “bent double” which gives the reader the idea that they are not only exhausted but have become ‘double’- an inhuman version of themselves after having to ‘bend down’ to hold the weight of what they have seen and done. By creating these effects Owen shows the reader the effect of war and wants us to feel sympathy for the soldier to help imagine just how young and unprepared they were. This helps the reader to understand how sending men into war was largely an exercise in futility and reinforces the theme that war is horrible and

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