Demented - madness of the war Half-rhyme solemnity

Dulceet Decorum est It is sweet and right to die for one s country. Anti-war poem Hardship suffered by soldiers - like old beggars under sacks, soughing like hags (old ugly women) - we cursed speaker included his voice included - sludge oozy mud -> offers vivid sense of muddy front of the war - Double stress (Bent double / Knock-kneed) ->pitiness / bitterness carried - Flares -> lights up the battlefield -> gives guidance to men or targets on enemy - Haunting -> foreshadows why flares are haunting - Trudge -> onomatopoeia - Distant rest -> death? - Shod (about horse)-> beast burden -> slaughtered - Lame / blind / fatigue -> semi-delusional state/ hyperbole - Hoots -> similar to sound of dropping gas shells - Softly -> can t hear anymore / stealthy, menacing / insidious, sinister - Punctuations breaking up lines, making reading jerky, visualizes limping > caesura - Men blood-shod. Reduction in the language. Concise. - Last line -> rhythm slackens -> first two syllables unstressed -> Prepares for the drama and shock in the following lines

SECOND STANZA - slows down (!) - ecstasy madness, psychotic state - standard metaphor of drowning (like drowning under water) - personal pronoun (I saw him drowning) THIRD STANZA - why helpless? - Switches to a retrospect - Effect that the incident had on him -> nightmares -> third stanza = what he dreams later on FOURTH STANZA - superficial patriotic simplified view of war: dulce (my friend) you viewing us as being too patriotic and over-simplifying war (e.g. Jessie Pope)