Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors “Dulce et Decorum Est” gives
the reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem is an anti-war poem by
Wilfred Owen and makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective
because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of
poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his
point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the
utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through
the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong
meaning and persuasive argument. To have a better understanding of the poem, it
is important to understand some of Wilfred Owen’s history. Owen enlisted in
the Artists’ Rifles on October 21st 1915. He was eventually drafted to France
in 1917. The birth of Owen’s imagery style used in his more famous poems was
during his stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where he met Siegfried Sassoon
(another great war poet). Owen’s new style (the one that was used in “Dulce
et Decorum Est”) embelished many poems between August 1917 and Septermber 1918
(Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia). On November 4, 1918, Wilfred Owed was killed
by enemy machine gun fire as he tried to get his company across the Sambre Canal
(Lane 167). The poem tells of a trip that Owen and his platoon of exhausted
soldiers had while they were painfully making their way back to base after a
harrowing time at the battle front when a gas shell was fired at them. As a
result of this, a soldier in his platoon was fatally gassed. Owen has arranged
the poem in three sections, each dealing with a different stage of this
experience. He makes use of a simple, regular rhyme scheme, which makes the poem
sound almost like a child's poem or nursery rhyme. This technique serves to
emphasize the solemn and serious content. In stanza one, Owen describes the
soldiers as they set off towards the army base from the front line. The simile
“Bent double, like old beggars”(1) not only says that they are tired, but
that they are so tired they have been brought down to the level of beggars who
have not slept in a bed for weeks on end. Also, the simile “coughing like
hags”(2) helps to depict the soldiers’ poor health and depressed state of
mind. Owen makes us picture the soldiers as ill, disturbed and utterly
exhausted. He shows that this is not the government-projected stereotype of a
soldier, in gleaming boots and crisp new uniform, but is the true illustration
of the poor mental and physical state of the soldiers. By telling us that many
of the platoon are barefoot, Owen gives us an idea of how awful the soldiers’
journey already is; it then gets even worse. Owen tells us that the soldiers,
although they must have been trained, still do not notice the deadly mustard gas
shells being fired at them from behind; such is the extent of their exhaustion.
In the second stanza, the pace of the narrative is increased. Owen describes the
flurry of activity that takes place when it dawns on the platoon that they have
the hazard of gas to deal with. He begins by writing “Gas, GAS!”(9), which
instantly grabs the attention of the reader, and by writing it first in lower
case and then again in capitals, he gives an impression of the rising alarm in
the solders. Owen uses the expression “an ecstasy of fumbling”(9) to
describe the soldiers trying desperately to get out and fit their gas masks, the
word “ecstasy”(9) being used to give us the impression of the complete, all
consuming panic which the soldiers feel when they notice the gas shells. This is
effective because it is a complete contrast to the image of the soldiers before
the shell, at first they were trudging on, “drunk with fatigue”(7), but are
suddenly forced into an “ecstasy of fumbling”(9) by the falling of the gas
shell. The description of the gas masks as “clumsy helmets”(10) tells us
that the equipment given to the soldiers is heavy and substandard. Owen then
describes one member of the platoon who was not quick enough in fitting his
mask, and is now yelling out in pain and stumbling around. Owen describes
himself as looking at the man “as under a green sea”(14). The dying man is
said to be “drowning”(14). By the use of this word we are reminded that the
mustard gas from the shells corrodes the lungs, so not only is he being deprived
of air, he is drowning in his own bodily fluids. Stanza 3 goes on to describe
how the ghastly picture of the poor soldier who is flung in to a wagon and
trundled back to base haunts him. Owen and his comrades know that there is no
hope for their friend’s survival, but despite the fact that they would be
fleeing the hazard of the gas, their sense of humanity and mutual concern will
not allow them to abandon their comrade. They load his body into a lorry and
walk along, unable to stop his suffering, showing us that the individual
soldiers are caring, but have been manipulated. The vocabulary and imagery used
by Owen in this stanza is deliberately shocking to force his readers to react.
For example, the simile “obscene as cancer”(23) is effective, because
everybody fears cancer; it is a horrible way to die, much as war is in Owen’s
opinion. Also, the mentioning “Of vile incurable sores on innocent
tongues”(24) not only tells the reader how the troops will never forget the
experience, but also how they are frightening tales, ones that the troops will
never be able to tell without remembering the extremely painful experience. The
poem's use of excellent diction helps to more clearly define what the author is
saying. Words like guttering, choking, and drowning not only show how the man is
suffering, but that he is in terrible pain that no human being should endure.
Other words like writhing and froth-corrupted say precisely how the man is being
tormented. Moreover, the phrase "blood-shod"(6) shows how the troops
have been on their feet for days, never resting. Also, the fact that the gassed
man was "flung" into the wagon reveals the urgency and occupation with
fighting. The only thing they can do is toss him into a wagon. The fact one word
can add to the meaning so much shows how the diction of this poem adds greatly
to its effectiveness. The most important means of developing the effectiveness
of the poem is the graphic imagery. They evoke such emotions so as to cause
people to become sick. The images can draw such pictures that no other poetic
means can, such as in line twenty-two: "Come gargling from the froth
corrupted lungs”(22). This can be disturbing to think about. It shows troops
being brutally slaughtered very vividly, evoking images in the reader's mind. In
the beginning of the poem the troops were portrayed as "drunk with
fatigue"(7). With this you can almost imagine large numbers of people
dragging their boots through the mud, tripping over their own shadow. Anyone
wanting to fight in a war would become nervous at the image of himself running
out into a blood bath. The graphic images displayed here are profoundly
affecting and can never be forgotten. The poem ties it all together in the last
few lines. In Latin, the phrase "Dulce et decorum est pro partria mori"
means, "It is sweet and becoming to die for one's country." Owen calls
this a lie by using good diction, vivid comparisons, and graphic images to have
the reader feel disgusted at what war is capable of. This poem is extremely
effective as an anti-war poem, making war seem absolutely horrid and revolting,
just as the author wanted it to.

Bibliography
Lane, Arthur E. An Adequate Response. Detroit: Wayne State University Press,
1972. Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Literature and the Writing
Process. Fifth ed. Ed. Elizabeth McMahhan, et al. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1999. 582-583. "Owen, Wilfred," Microsoft® Encarta®
Online Encyclopedia 2000. http://encarta.msn.com “Wilfred Owen.” Spartacus
Internet Encyclopedia 2000. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jowen.htm