Dulce Et Decorum Est - Poem Essay

Prompt #2: Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how the speaker uses the varied imagery of the poem to reveal his attitude towards the nature of war.

 “Dulce Et Decorum Est”

It is easy to mistake Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est as a pro bono, pro-war work of literature. A simple glimpse at the title of the poem, a deceitful latin phrase that literally means “sweat and right,” might imply that the author was giving a message for war. Upon further investigation, the reader might realise the dichotomy between the title and the meaning of the work. Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est tells of the hauntingly realistic story of war. Owen is insistent for society to reevaluate its stance on war believing war shouldn’t be romanticised, because war is grit, it is sunken eyes and hunched backs, dirt and blood not the “roses and hearts” that young men and women believe it to be.

The tone of the poem is somber and realistic, it grips the reader’s attention by vividly describing the reality of war. Owen mentioned soldiers as “old beggars under sacks” to ratify the fatigue and dwindling morale that often takes a hold of soldiers. The poem further exemplifies Owen’s claim as the work openly talks about the grotesque deaths soldiers might encounter. There isn’t anything romantic about dying for a country, nothing honourable. The death of a soldier isn’t slowed down with dramatic, classical music beating in the background, it’s dirty and grotesque. Death in the middle of the field is “guttering, choking, drowning,” it is utterly painful and ugly. The work belittles the way war is often time interpreted as something sort-of romantic. It’s similar to how living in a small town gets over romanticized. People don’t see that living in a small town isn’t as romantic as it seems with its lack of diversity and lack of acceptance. War isn’t romantic, it’s not “sweet” and “right,” it’s blood and gore and death. It is taking hold of young men and women to use as triggers, using people to do the dirty work so that they’ll be the one’s that dirty their hands. Soldiers are sheeps waiting for the slaughterhouse, “trudging” on, all the “limping on, blood-shod.” The fatigue etched deep within them, the horrors of bloodshed and the dwindling light of a candle, soldiers, lied to, turn their backs on their innocence.  

War is like “gas! gas!” It poisons children to believe it as right, in exchange for “desperate glory.” Owen continues to reiterate the “old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori (it is sweet and right to die for your country).” Potential death does not equal glory, nor does being plagued by the trauma brought by war. Owen’s own experiences with war extends the haunting reality of death, “of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues.” 

Poem and Prompt Choice(s)

"Dulce Et Decorum Est"

Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots 
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
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,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Prompt #1: 

Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you discuss how such elements as language, imagery, structure, and point of view convey meaning in the poem. 

Prompt #2:

Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze how the speaker uses the varied imagery of the poem to reveal his attitude toward the nature of war.

Prompt #3:

In a brief essay, identify at least two of the implications implicit in the society reflected in the poem. Support your statements by specific references to the poem.

Dulce Et Decorum Est (POEM #1)

1. Title: Dulce Et Decorum Est

1. Without looking up the meaning of the phrase, one can distinguish the word “dulce,” as it is common adjective when describing candy, meaning sweet. “Decorum,” also relatively easy to define due primarily to background knowledge and prior vocabulary experience, means etiquette. So, the title can be crudely translated as something sweet and etiquette. This poem values that title, as it is a poem about fighting for your country. It is sweet, to honor yourself through the courageous actions of fighting for your home, for your people, and for your country. It is otherwise your duty.

2. Paraphrase:

1. Soldiers fight in a war for the sake of their country. The fatigue etched deep within them, the horrors of bloodshed and the dwindling light of a candle. But it is sweet and satisfying to honor one’s self to death in exchange for the safety of one’s country.

3. Connotation:

1. “like old beggars under sacks” - fatigue, dwindling morale
2. “all went lame; all blind” - loss of integrity, loss of form (sunken bodies, trudging)
3. “hoots” - gunshot noises
4. “saw him drowning” - dying soldier, choking on blood

4. Attitude
1. The tone is somber, the way the poem vividly describes war speaks in that account. But there is an inquisitive attitude that underlies the somber tone. It peaks in the way the poem talks about war, the gruesome and grotesque truth about war. It belittles the way war is often time interpreted as something sort-of romantic. It’s similar to how living in a small town gets over romanticized. People don’t see that living in a small town isn’t as romantic as it seems (lack of diversity, lack of acceptance). War isn’t romantic, it’s not “sweet” and “right,” it’s blood and gore and death.

5. Shift

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

Pro patria mori

1. There is a shift the moment the poem starts talking about the foolishness of society’s romanticized views on war. The poet calls it “desperate glory,” which continuously reinforces the notion that war is neither heroic nor honorable. The saying “dulce et decorum est” is a lie told to young men.

6. Title Revisited
1. After reading (and re-reading) and analyzing the poem, it is easy to note the mistake I made. The title isn’t to encourage the romanticism of war, but contrary to that. It’s ironic. Simple as that. It pokes fun on the way war has been socially accepted as a way to glorify one’s self, has been romanticized to the point of “roses-and-hearts.”

7. Theme

1. War is full of grit; it is sunken eyes and hunched backs, dirt and blood.       

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

1. What is the role of Time in this poem?
1. That there is limited time, a scarce resource that everyone desires, but can’t extend. The tone is solemn; the author tries to reiterate that there IS time, that there’s time for “the yellow smoke that slides along the street.” But the repetition of the phrase “there is time,” that is used to assure the narrator, only seems to sound trivial. It’s a phrase to assure yourself of the thing that will never occur, a sliver of false hope. In the end, the narrator, contemplating the issue of time, never actually acts upon it, never uses  his limited time to do something.     

1. What is the significance of Eliot's allusions to Hamlet and the "eternal Footman"?
1. Eliot alludes to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet by comparing himself to the Prince. He compares himself to Hamlet, stating that “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.” It is significant because both the narrator from the poem and Hamlet from the play struggle with time, and the usage of that time to act cordially. However, he states clearly that he isn’t comparable to the Prince. Why not? I mean, if both struggled about the same concept of time and action, why does he mention how incomparable they are? Well, the major difference between the two is that although both struggled with time and action, Hamlet (in the end) actually does something with his time. Although struggled with his actions, in the end, he still did something with it. The narrator, on the other hand, only contemplates what actions he’s able to do with time. He never truly uses that limited time to act, but only uses to makes excuses. His thoughts swayed towards that idea that that there is time, action doesn’t have to occur now. As a result, nothing is accomplished.     

1. Choose a moment in which Eliot uses figurative language and: interpret the image (explain how the image and its meaning contribute to your understanding of the theme of the poem)

“I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

1. Eliot describes the Sirens, mythological creatures that lure sea captains, by singing to them, unto their deaths. The narrator explains how he has seen them, but isn’t expecting them to sing to him. He sounds wistful, lost in despair and confusion, he’s expecting the Sirens to sing to him, to lure him in. Without a path in front of him and losing time by the seconds, the narrator is desperate for the Sirens to help pave the way, to give him a path to cross, even if it leads to his demise. Because in reality he has nothing, no path and no idea, simply lost in his struggle to grab on to time, and having the Sirens pave him a road would mean giving him something other than time to hold on to.    

Introduction To Poetry

“Out Beyond Ideas”

1. The title “Out Beyond Ideas” signifies the place beyond anything that contains right or wrong. There is a place outside that of the black and white, a grayscale that places one into a serene and boundless location.
2. The tone is both reflective and contemplative. The author seems to be thinking about an issue that places an audience unto a place that holds neither just “wrongdoing nor rightdoing.” At the same time, the poem seems reflective. It’s not just a literal poem where a literal place that stands alone from the chaos of wrongdoing and rightdoing, but illustrates what seems to be enlightening. Whether there be wrong and right, you will someday be put in a place that allows you to just breathe in deeply. Forget the chaos of the world, pause and reflect, and “when the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.”
3. It feels me with a sense of hope while also making me think and reflect on my life. The idea that, “when the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about,” there is a place in life to just lie down and not think about just the right and wrong in the world fills me with hope to keep going. At the same time, it makes me feel down and has made me reflect on my life because I am continuously worrying about the right and the wrong, never to pause and breathe.
4. The theme is to pause and think, to reflect on your life, because even though the world is full of right and wrong (overwhelming you), it’s okay to stop and to breathe in and out.