Review Of The Poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'

Dulce Et Decorum Est- Wilfred Owen Poem
“Dulce Et Decorum Est”, is a poem by Wilfred Owen during World War I. The poem is written in first person, and from the perspective of a soldier in the trenches, who describes the harsh reality of warfare.
In the first stanza, the poet describes the gruesome and atrocious conditions of the battlefield. He depicts the soldiers having no protection for their feet, but carrying on regardless, to the point where their feet were covered in blood: “many had lost their boots but limped on, blood- shod ”. The poet also shows the grim surroundings at the front line by exaggerating the effect of the war on the soldier’s senses: “all went lame; all blind”. The word ‘blood- shod’ demonstrates that even though they were bleeding, they still carried on moving. It reminds me of the pain they had experienced everyday.
He depicts the chaos of stumbling to put on the gas helmets in the nick of time: “An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”. However, one soldier does not manage to put his on, and Owen sees this soldier choking on the chlorine gas, “floundering like a man in fire or lime”. The language used tells the audience that what he saw during the choking in gas. This event gave Wilfred Owen nightmares after the war. Wilfred Owen uses the word “floundering” to show what is happening to the soldier at that very moment, showing that he is acting like a fish, trying to gasp for