Dulce et Decorm est

Dulce et Decorm est

1. Themes

   • Propagagnda
     • "The old lie"
     • dismissive of the techniques the gov. use
     • it tricks boys into wasting their lives
   • War
     • it's WW1 - battlefield
     • people are lost in two ways
       • Physically
       • Mentally
   • Patriotism
     • anti-patriotic
     • dismissive of the gov.
       • why aren't they out fighting too?

2. First Stanza

   • Takes the reader into the ranks
     • unusual/catching opening
   • Broken iambic pentameter til line 5
     • After line 5, uses commas and semi colons etc.
       • show the broken state of the men
   • Simile - like old beggars
     • Ironic as they're young men

3. Second Stanza

   • Taken into first hand tragedy
     • the loss of his fellow comrade (common in war)
   • "ecstasy of fumbling"
     • sense of frenzy and urgency
     • detailed suffering/panic
       • to make the reader feel his own pain/frustration
   • becomes more personal
     • features his own experiences

4. Stanza 4

   • confronts the reader
     • that if they saw what he saw, they'd wish the war dead
   • uses vivid/shocking description
     • "His hanging face like a devils sick of sin"
     • "obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud"

5. Stanza 3

   • only 2 lines long
     • brings home personal loss/effect to the reader
       • i, my, me
   • uses the word "guttering"
     • describes the tears streaming down the mans face
       • a sign of fear/sadness towards death
       • a symptom from being infected by the gas

6. Language

   • opening lines contain of: bent, beggars, sacks, hags, cursed, haunting, trudge
     • these are all terms used to describe poverty/deprivation
       • not a glorious soldier -like the gov. described
   • alliteration - lines 5, 11 & 19
     • "Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots"
   • use of similies
     • "like a devils face, sick of sin"

7. Imagery

   • men appear old - but that's just an illusion
   • stanza 4 is full of imagery
     • "and watch the white eyes writhing in his face"

8. Background

   • Poet - Wilfred Owen
   • written during WW1
     • published 1920
   • it is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland