Dulce et decorum est

War is an event that has been trivialized and encouraged by authority for a thousand years. From the First Crusade, to the American Revolutionary War to the current war in Afghanistan; it is something that society today still encourages men and women to participate in. Although our soldiers now have a far greater support system and understanding of war then those who participated in World War I, our ANZACs enlisted relying on the cheerful, happy times proposed in the government’s propaganda. Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ challenges the image that the government put forth and brings portray the reality of war. The poem depicts the struggles of a soldiers return to base camp. It defies the image created by the government by displaying how gruesome and horrific the conditions that these men had to survive through.

The poem has been written as four uneven stanzas this has been done purposefully to express how unpredictable war is. With the varying lengths of stanzas the breaks become unexpected in the poem; the reader is given the impression of how erratic war is, only given short moments of respite, with no predictability throughout the years on the frontline. Owen begins his work with a strong use of imagery to portray the conditions and the state of the soldiers. By using similes such as “like old beggars under sacks” and “coughing like hags” the reader is able to clearly visualize the state of the soldiers. This is also how Owen describes the state of the condition in which they were fighting in “we cursed through sludge”. These lines provide the reader with a very distinct vision of what was occurring. After this the poem describes a gas attack and the fear that the men felt. “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumb...

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... was against war and how much he valued not only his own life but his comrades’ life.

Throughout the poem Owen has worked so that the reader feels different emotions throughout. As a reader I felt conflicted and confronted with the images first presented. The more you read the darker and more depressed your emotions became. I could feel the life, light and happiness being sucked out of you. Upon a greater analysis of the poem I feel the anger that Owen has towards the lies that the government had told not only him but the public as well. We still are lying to ourselves as a society of the death occurring in Afghanistan as a heroic event that should be celebrated. Today, though we aren’t as ignorant in what our soldiers go through, we still underestimate the seriousness of war and glorify our soldiers’ actions. In the 100 years since World War 1 nothing has changed.