The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait and analysis of the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. This is a poem titled in a Latin phrase which goes on in the first verse saying ‘Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’. This Latin phrase borrowed by Horace, the Latin poet, means that it is sweet and ideal for one to die for his / her country. The poem was written by Wilfred Owen in 1917. The year this poem was written there was a war going on and this was the World War I. According to sources ‘the earliest surviving manuscript of the poem is dated 8 October 1917’ (retrieved from www. Wikipedia.com). The poem was published in 1920 and has been appealing to its readers ever since.
The essay will focus on the meaning of the poem, its impact on readers and reflections drawn upon its reading. Wilfred Owen borrowed Horace’s words to title his poem in which he wishes to state a totally different idea from the one expressed by its title.
One would probably expect to read a poem that talks about the significance and ethical value lying in fighting for one’s country in order to stand against enemies and dangers of his / her country, his /her culture and his / her family.
On the contrary the words of the title are used by Wilfred Owen in an ironic and sarcastic way so that the poet manages to put across his message which is fully an anti-war message. The imagery and rhythm used by Owen is putting across the faces and tortured bodies of soldiers fighting for a cause which they have not chosen, sacrificing their lives for their countries and cultures and national identities which one way or the other were like the poet wants to emphasize condemned to fall in the trap of political games played in the backstage.
War has always been considered one of the worst evils which could fall upon humanity and has always been found to have been provoked by conflicts occurring within the political and economic relationships of countries and states. World War I was a war whose effect was such that worldwide people seemed to realize that they all ought to deal with their differences in such a way that wars are avoided. Nevertheless, human history repeated itself with the World War II to reach the top of misery and unhappiness imposed on people all over the world.
It is common knowledge that poetry serves as a kind of vehicle which moves all around the world without being prevented by distances or time gaps in order to express feelings of its creators, worldwide feelings, concerns, agonies and fears.
Poems seem to speak to people’s hearts managing to raise concern and thoughts on worldwide events as well as personal situations.
The poem is divided in four stanzas. The first verses of the first stanza ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’ refers to the image of soldiers be crippled, walking like dead corpses. In line 5 of the poem ‘Men marched asleep.’ and this verse highlights that men are like zombies. This is what war does to people. War makes people lose their humanity, lose their feelings, lose their sense and substance of existence.
Wilfred Owen uses realistic images. He does not want to talk in calm, peaceful voice. He wants to emphasize on the terror of the war and in order to manage to do so he needs to use words and images which depict the horror and the dreadful aura.
After the middle of line five the poet has a pause in the line which in poetry is called a caesura and this is done on purpose so that the poet manages to depict the depth and meaning of his words and images.
He goes on after the middle of line five (5) ‘Many had lost their boots, / But limped on, blood-shod.’ The image of the soldiers who seem destroyed both physically and mentally goes on. All these words with the repetition of the sound ‘l’ makes the tongue repeating her voice in such a way that all words keep their voices strong enough and loud.
The poet starts notifying us on the total lack of any point in the march the soldiers are performing, the soldiers seem to have entered a march with no specific goal, with no specific destination. In lines 7-8 the soldiers are ‘Drunk with fatigue, deaf even to the hoots / of tired, outstripped Five – Nines that dropped behind.’ The Five –Nines are the gas shells and even the equipment of the soldiers seems destroyed and useless.
The poem goes on in the same rhythm and theme. And in the second stanza in lines 13-14 the narrator of the poem ‘Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,/ As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.’ sees a man drowning in the green fog created by the war and the weapons and the gas.
A man is drowning but no name is needed to be given and this man in the third stanza in lines 15-16 ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning.’ The man is asking for the narrator’s help. He wants to avoid his death but the narrator is helpless. It is the terror of the war which drowns people and nothing can be done in order to be saved.
It is not clearly stated by the poet that the war is useless and causes only extra pain but this is what the poet seems to want to emphasize on.
The poem goes on in the last stanza, the fourth one in lines 21-24 ‘If you could hear at every jolt, the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, / Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud / Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–’ to show more emphasis on the terror of the war and its ugliness.
War is like cancer. Cancer is a disease which folds one body in its ugliness and pain. This is what war is like. It folds people’s bodies and souls into ugliness, the awakening of bad insticts, the animal-like behavior, and the total loss of humanity.
In the following lines 25-27 ‘My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old Lie:’ the poet finally addresses his audience with the real meaning of his message. He does not just wish to give an image of the war’s terror. He wants to prove to people that any war no matter defensive or attacking is violent, disastrous and catastrophic. This is what Wilfred Owen wants to put across to the people of his generation and the future one.
He wants to tell people that it is not honor to fight for your country. Because dying for your country may be an ideal of older times which by no means can be applied to nowadays demands. People ought to realize that they only have one choice if they want to survive and have a good quality of life and that is their harmonic co-existence and co-operation through a healthy dialogue.
Works cited
Shakel, Peter, Ridl Jack, ‘Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking’
Bedford/St. Martin's; 2nd edition (December 24, 2007)
Wilfred,Owen ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ (1917) retrieved from www. Wikipedia.com
