War Poetry - Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 04/19/2010 08:38 AM
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Robert E. Lee said, “It is well that war is so terrible - we would grow too fond of it.”
Many different poets express the ‘terrible’ nature of war in many different ways.
In the poem Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, written by Wilfred Owen, he expresses his view on the ‘terrible’ nature of war from a first hand account because Wilfred Owen fought in the front line and suffered from shell shock. Many poems written around the same time as ‘Dulce et’ were written by people who weren’t in the front lines and didn’t know what war was really like and they were written to glorify and glamorise war.
Wilfred Owen wrote this poem and focused on the harsh reality of war on young soldiers. He included many disturbing references to war and it’s consequences.
In the poem ‘Dulce et’ Wilfred Owen uses disturbing images such as the young soldiers are bent double, knock - kneed. This gives the impression that they are feeling physical pain or they are scared. He describes the soldiers ‘like old beggars’ and ‘coughing like hags’, the soldiers have been degraded to beggars and are as disrespected as beggars. They are described as being old even though these soldiers are only young men. The war doesn’t just effect the soldiers physically, it also effects them mentally. The ‘haunting flares’ remind them of the deaths of fellow soldiers and even friends. ‘distant rest began to trudge’ they were walking but they were physically tired. ‘Men marched asleep’ the soldiers are still marching because they are soldiers and are proud to be soldiers but they are so tired they are practically asleep. ‘but limped on, blood - shod’ this gives a physical description of what the soldiers were like, it describes the pain and anguish they are feeling. ‘all went lame, all blind’ this is a metaphor that the poet uses to describe the soldiers condition, they are blind to the things going on around them and they are physically broken. ‘drunk with fatigue’ how they are walking, they are walking as if...
Many different poets express the ‘terrible’ nature of war in many different ways.
In the poem Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, written by Wilfred Owen, he expresses his view on the ‘terrible’ nature of war from a first hand account because Wilfred Owen fought in the front line and suffered from shell shock. Many poems written around the same time as ‘Dulce et’ were written by people who weren’t in the front lines and didn’t know what war was really like and they were written to glorify and glamorise war.
Wilfred Owen wrote this poem and focused on the harsh reality of war on young soldiers. He included many disturbing references to war and it’s consequences.
In the poem ‘Dulce et’ Wilfred Owen uses disturbing images such as the young soldiers are bent double, knock - kneed. This gives the impression that they are feeling physical pain or they are scared. He describes the soldiers ‘like old beggars’ and ‘coughing like hags’, the soldiers have been degraded to beggars and are as disrespected as beggars. They are described as being old even though these soldiers are only young men. The war doesn’t just effect the soldiers physically, it also effects them mentally. The ‘haunting flares’ remind them of the deaths of fellow soldiers and even friends. ‘distant rest began to trudge’ they were walking but they were physically tired. ‘Men marched asleep’ the soldiers are still marching because they are soldiers and are proud to be soldiers but they are so tired they are practically asleep. ‘but limped on, blood - shod’ this gives a physical description of what the soldiers were like, it describes the pain and anguish they are feeling. ‘all went lame, all blind’ this is a metaphor that the poet uses to describe the soldiers condition, they are blind to the things going on around them and they are physically broken. ‘drunk with fatigue’ how they are walking, they are walking as if...