Analysis of Wifred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est': Themes and Literary Devices, Exercises of English Literature

Download Analysis of Wifred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est': Themes and Literary Devices and more Exercises English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! “The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, written by Wifred Owen (1893-1918), is about a man telling the reader that dying in a war is neither honourable nor beautiful.” (Lola) “The poem has three stanzas and each has a different central theme. The first sets the mood of the poem. It describes the effect that the war had on the soldiers. They are trudging across the battlefield, completely fatigued and in near-death states.” (Kata) “The third and last stanza talks about the consequences of the war. The survivors had to pick up and carry their fallen comrades and take them to the death wagons, while pretending they weren’t about to collapse from their efforts; they were scarred by these memories.” (Kata) “Owen criticises the government and all who have never seen the front for glorifying the fight for your country despite the agony and suffering the soldiers go through.” (Lola) “The verses 6-8 describe the soldiers’ condition. They are aching, their feet bleeding, some of them without boots after having lost them in battle. All of them are hardly able to walk because of the pain they feel. The last two verses (“deaf even to the hoots / of gas shells dropping softly behind”) mean that even if bombs are falling, they do not hear them because they are used to it.” (Lola)