Poem blog

Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est is a poem that really struck me do to the author’s life story. The poem is ironic, because Owen died in the war right before it ended. He was a scholar who was familiar with the Roman poet Horace’s work, yet he was forced into the life of a soldier. The poem itself contains irony, because the title and very last line, “Dulce et decoeum est pro patria mori.” Is translated to mean, “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.” The poem is about the horrors and destruction that a soldier saw in battle, and for what? For one’s country. It questions the whole ideal of war. A simile is used, “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” really strengthens the vivid visual imagery seen throughout. Auditory imagery is used, “If you could hear, at every jolt, blood Come gargling from the forth-corrupted lungs.” Personification is used when describing the German artillery shells. Owen says, “deaf even to the hoofs of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. The artillery shells are given the human characteristic of fatigue even though they are inanimate objects. Dulce et Decorum Est is a very grotesque account of war that hits all senses. I like it because it is a real story from a real man, trapped in a place he did not want to be, fighting for a cause he did not believe in. His friend Siegfried Sassoon actually became famous, while Wilfred Owen died in battle, even more ironic.