Task 6 - Dulce et Decorum Est

World War 1 (1914-1918)

The setting of this poem

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

The soldiers turn away from the lights and noise of war and head back in the direction of their camp.

What do the first four lines of stanza 1 suggest about the current situation of the soldiers?

They are retreating to their camp to escape the fighting. "turned our backs on the haunting flares"

Which statement best summarizes the central idea of this poem?

Those who praise war and promote the involvement of young people are promoting a false image of glory. The last line of the poem says that "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is a lie.

'My friend'

Tone of bitter scorn and sarcasm

"Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time"

Vivid description of sudden frantic activity as the soldiers panic and rush to put on their gas masks

In all my dreams before my helpless sight/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. What do these lines best reveal about the speaker?

"In all my dreams" indicates that the speaker has been, and will continue to be, haunted by his war experience.

'fumbling' 'yelling' 'stumbling' 'flounder'ring'

-fast moving verbs -its all happening now and suddenly -shows the chaoticness of war -shows the panic amongst the soldiers

'Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-'

-short sentences -very quick and sudden to show how unpredictable the war is -makes the reader more aware -shows the panic and urgency -its a matter of life and death

'guttering, chocking, drowning'

-the rule of 3 and fast moving verbs -to make it sound more gruesome to the reader -makes it more memorable to the reader to emphasise how he's never forgotten

jolt

A sudden jerk or bump

the final line of the poem - "pro patria mori" - breaks the meter of the poem for what reason?

B) to reflect a truncated (shortened) life of soldiers killed in action

Based on stanza 1, which words best describe the soldiers?

B. Weak and exhausted. The soldiers are described as bent in half, coughing, and exhausted Supported by: A. The soldiers are so weak that they are unable to stand up straight. E. "Marched asleep" describes the soldiers' level of exhaustion. F. "Drunk with fatigue" describes the soldiers' exhaustion and weakness.

What is the clearest purpose of the poem?

B. to provide a non-romanticized view of war

Which rhyming pair conveys the central conflict and message of the poem?

D) "glory" (line 26) and "mori" (line 28)

The use of the word "dreams" in the third and fourth stanzas could best be replaced with

E. nightmares

'All went lame, all blind'

Hyperbole (exaggeration) stresses the soldiers' pitiful condition

Written by

Wilfred Owen

"Knock-kneed, coughing like hags"

a simile, couple with alliteration, comparing soldiers to sickly old women

lime

LEMON GREEN SOUR FRUIT

Where in the poem does the speaker begin to focus on the present rather than the past?

Lines 15-16 (In all my dreams before my helpless sight/He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.) Because these lines are written in present tense, "He plunges at me," rather than past tense, "I saw him drowning (line 14)."

limp on

continued

bent

leaning, inclination, proclivity, tendency

hoots

owl

cud

partly digested food

"ardent for some desperate glory"

passionate about the idea of war as a glorious adventure

curse

to bring harm upon.

ardent

very enthusiastic, impassioned

"with such high zest"

with great enthusiasm or intense energy

"Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues"

Similes comparing the suffering of the soldiers to a disease like cancer or permanent wounds on the tongues of innocent people

What are the functions of each stanza in the poem? Stanza 4?

Stanza 4 1) Builds tone by telling horrific details Evidence: "watch the white eyes writhing in his face"; "the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs" 2) States the speaker's view of war Evidence: "you would not tell with such high zest"; "The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori."

What shift occurs in stanza 4?

The beginning of Stanza 4,"...you too could pace," begins the speakers' use of second person point of view

What does stanza 3 show about the soldiers situation?

In stanza 3, the events show that even though the soldiers think they are headed for rest and have left the battle behind, they are unable to escape the fighting after all, as the memories haunt their dreams. A. The soldiers are not really able to leave the battle behind.

fumbling

clumsily handling things

Pro Patria mori

to die for your country

Theme of the poem

by detailing both everyday misery and an agonizing death, the poem suggests that enduring the horrors of war is not wonderful or patriotic. The details of the soldiers' daily conditions and the man's death support the theme that "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is a lie

drowning

happens when a person suffocates in the water

lame

unable to walk normally due to injury

Context

-Owen didn't want to fight in the war/ be a solider -because of propaganda and the government techniques, he felt pressured to join the army -his early poems are full of patriotism and happiness -he wrote this when he was in a military hospital from getting shellshock -this was also written at the end of the war -he felt lied to and betrayed

'you would not tell with such high zest to children'

-he's saying that if you saw/ were in the war, you woudln't tell your children how sweet and honorable it is to fight for your country -Owen feels angry as the government said the opposite to them before the war -could also emphasise that the soldiers are young men who shouldn't be at war and fighting and should be enjoying themselves with freedom

'In all my dreams'

-hes been deeply affected by this (haunted) -hes replaying all of the moments and deaths hes seen -shows that hes got shellshock

repetition of 'you'

-hes talking to the audience directly -makes it more powerful and moving -makes the reader more aware and more thoughtful as they think about it more

'An ecstasy of fumbling'

-irony -there's a rush to get your gas masks on -everyone is scared and panicking

Structure

-it starts off very slow and monotonous (showing the soldiers fatigue) until the second stanza where the speed changes dramatically (to show more panic and fear)

'All went lame: all blind'

-lame is often associated with animals -this makes it seem like war has taken the humanity out of the soldiers and they weren't who they once were -it also makes them sound like elderly people -this is to show how much the war has changed them as they have no energy and they once were young, fit, strong men

'white eyes writhing in his face' 'froth-corrupted lungs' 'hanging face' 'incurable sores'

-listing and descriptive language -describing the vast amount of horror and terror that can be seen -used to almost gross out the readers to show that war is very bad and horrible

'we flung him'

-verb -makes it sound like the dead body is worthless -shows that there's no dignity or honour in dying in war which is contrasting what the government said in propaganda

'old' 'lame' 'trudge' 'asleep' 'fatigue'

-vocab/ verbs -very slow movement to show how slow and tiring war can be

In the context of the poem, the "ecstasy of fumbling" (line 9) could best be characterized as

A. Irony --- this is the answer I found on most quizlets but its also an oxymoron?

In what three ways does this poem challenge or disagree with the idea that to die for your country is a noble thing to do?

A. It treats the outcome of a battle as less important than the soldiers experiences. The majority of the poem focuses on the death of a soldier and the aftermath of war for the speaker, rather than the outcome of the battle. C. It portrays soldiers as essentially powerless. The soldiers are described as physically broken and unable to control even their dreams. G. It denies the possibility of soldiers dying with dignity. The dying soldier is presented as grotesque and helpless, rather than dignified.

What is the effect of the repetition of the word "if" in the last stanza?

A. add an air of plausibility to the situation

At the end of "Dulce et Decorum Est" for what does the speaker criticize his audience?

A. glorifying war

In lines 4 and 5, which sound technique dominates the flow?

D) assonance and consonance

The point of view shifts from first person to second person between the lines

D. 16 and 17 (beginning of stanza 4)

"As under a green sea, I saw him drowning"

Simile comparing the gas cloud victim to a victim drowning in the ocean

What are the functions of each stanza in the poem? Stanza 2?

Stanza 2 1) Builds tone by telling horrific details Evidence: "flound'ring like a man in fire or lime"; "he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning" 2) Propels the action of the poem Evidence: "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys"; "I saw him drowning" 3) Introduces the speaker of the poem Evidence: "I saw him drowning"; "in all my dreams before my helpless sight/He plunges at me"

beggars - symbolism

conjures images of poverty and destitution, symbolising the decreasing dignity of the soldiers throughout the war.

In the opening stanza, the chief purpose of the figurative language is to

deglamorize war

hags

evil old women, witches

ecstasy

extreme happiness

"guttering, choking, drowning"

fighting for life

zest

great enjoyment of; excitement

writhing

making twisting or turning motions

floundering

stumbling

smothering

suffocating, unable to breathe

Knock-kneed

the knees angle in and touch each other when the legs are straightened

'Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs'

the use of collective pronouns suggests that soldiers are united in suffering.

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks"

the visual images, enhanced through a simile, are used communicate the severe pain and utter exhaustion.

flung

thrown with force

plunges

throws oneself or rushes into something

Lines 17-18 If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in

•Ah, now we get to the "you." •Are we the audience to whom Owen addresses this poem? •We're not quite sure. •Several earlier versions of this poem were explicitly addressed to "Miss Pope," or Jessie Pope, a British propagandist who printed public letters urging men to take up arms in defense of their country's honor. •Owen could be addressing the poem specifically to her. •For the sake of argument, though, let's see what happens if our speaker's "you" is supposed to be us (the readers). •If we accept that we're the people to whom our speaker addresses himself, something interesting happens: we're told that we can't understand what's going on in the poem...even as the speaker tells us what's going on. •In fact, it's like a story that your friend might tell you. They might try to describe something that happened, but then end by saying, "you just had to be there." •These lines actually take it a step further, though: our speaker doesn't even care whether we could actually experience the horrors of battle or not. •He knows that we can't share those experiences with him. •He's just wishing that we could share the dreams of the experiences of battle, but we can't do that. •Such deliberate distancing of the speaker from the "you" of the poem creates a huge gap of isolation in which our speaker dwells. •We just can't understand how horrible his life was...and is.

Lines 27-28 Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

•If you haven't buffed up on Latin lately, don't worry. Your friendly Shmoop translation team is here to help. •These Latin lines are quoted from Horace (a Roman philosopher and poet). •Here's the lines in English: "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country." • After reading all of the stuff that our speaker (and our speaker's comrade) have gone through, it's pretty hard to believe that Horace actually knows what he's talking about. •We're guessing that that's Owen's point. •Notice how the last line of the poem doesn't have anywhere close to ten syllables? •For readers accustomed to seeing or hearing a line that's ten syllables long, this would sound like a huge, awkward silence. •Maybe like the silence of death.

Lines 25-27 My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory..

•Now we get to the serious teeth of this poem: after drawing us deep into the hell of his personal experiences, our speaker lashes out at the those who helped get him into this mess. •As he bitterly reflects, the war efforts begin at home. •Lots of people are willing to convince young (and, he suggests, gullible) "children" that they can find glory on the battlefield. •When you compare the heightened rhetoric or ("high zest") of these "patriots" to the stark realism of the lines preceding it, the difference between the two seems almost farcical. •Owen sets up an implicit comparison between personal experience and national rhetoric. •It's almost like we see two separate versions of war being fought: the one that's full of "glory" and "honor," and the other that breaks men in to "hags" and hallucinations.

Lines 11-12 But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...

•The eeriness of this line might have something to do with the fact that we don't know who the "someone" stumbling about in the night actually is. •Notice how the verbs here have changed: our speaker's no longer describing universal conditions that could apply to anyone. •He's in the moment, watching as a man is "stumbling" and "yelling" and "floundering." •Those "-ing" conjugations of verbs create a sense of immediacy. •The man's out there right now. His actions occur as we speak. •lime, or quicklime, is a chemical compound that can burn through the human body (sort of like fire). •In other words, whatever the gas is doing to that man out there, it's awful. •It's so awful that our speaker can't face it head-on: he has to describe it through similes, (like those similes we talked about in the first lines).

Lines 9-10 Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

•The repetition of a frantic cry, "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—" draws us straight into a frenzy of action. •We're in the midst of an "ecstasy" of fumbling for helmets and gas masks. •Does the word "ecstasy" seem strange here? It does to us. •We're guessing that Owen's trying to draw upon an apocalyptic language: at the end of the world, just about anything that you're doing will probably seem ecstatic. •The "ecstasy of fumbling" which goes on here, however, is anything but rapturous. •We're back to the sort of ironic language that we've seen in the title - combining elevated language with absolute chaos makes the whole experience seem totally out of proportion.

When was it written?

-1920 -

'The old lie'

-Owens feels angry as the government and monarchy said that its sweet and honorable to die for your country -but after him seeing what the war is like he knows it was all a lie to try and ship people out to fight

'As under a green sea, i saw him drowning'

-adjective + metaphor + verb -the enemy are using green flares to hunt them out of the trenches -the army is submerged in it -its a slow and painful death -dramatic impact on the reader as it makes them think

'Knock-kneed'

-alliteration -to show how slow and boring and tiring the war is

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. (as in "deafening silence")

"Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patri Mori"

Ancient Roman phrase meaning "It is sweet and right to die for one's country." Owen refers to it as "The old Lie"

What is the plausible reason for Owens's choice of the Latin "Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori" instead of the English, "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country"?

B) to use an antique saying to illustrate the consistency of the pattern

in Dulce et Decorum est what is the difference between the "we" of the speaker and the "you" the speaker is addressing in the poem?

D. "we" are the soldiers and "you" are a person safe at home

What lines in the poem contributed to your understanding of the poem's purpose?

D. Lines 25-28

fatigue

Extreme tiredness, exhaustion

"His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin"

Simile comparing the victim's face as being as horrible as the devil's because he is sick of suffering

What are the functions of each stanza in the poem? Stanza 1?

Stanza 1 1) Builds tone by telling horrific details Evidence: "coughing like hags"; "many had lost their boots, but limped on, blood-shod" 2) Establishes the war scene Evidence: "on the haunting flares we turned our backs"; "the hoots of gasshells dropping softly behind" 3) Characterizes the soldiers as weary Evidence: "bent double"; "men marched asleep"; "drunk with fatigue"

Wilfred Owen

The poet. A soldier in World War 1. Killed in the war one week before it ended.

"In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."

This short stanza describes how the poet remembers the soldier he saw die and has dreams about him. He has PTSD.

gargling

To wash or rinse the throat or mouth with a liquid held in the throat and kept in motion by a stream of air from the lungs

"blood-shod"

a description of soldiers as having bloodied feet/shoes

"drunk with fatigue"

a description that illustrates the soldiers are so exhausted they are stumbling and incoherent as though drunk

"Flound'ring like a man in fire or lime"

a simile comparing the gassed soldier to a man struggling as though being burned in a fire or by chemicals

vile

disgusting

beggars

people who beg or ask for charity

misty

vague or hazy

trudge

walk slowly and with labor, not marching with energy like many military images

what is the difference between the "we of the speaker and the "you" the speaker is addressing in the poem?

we is the soldier at risk and you is someone sitting safely at home