The Trauma Of War In The Poem Dulce Et Decorum Est

The text that I have chosen to analyze is Dulce et Decorum Est, written by Wilfred Owen in
1918. Wilfred Owen was a famous poet that revealed the vivid truth about the traumas of war, in
particular, his experiences in World War I. The text can be classified as a poem, that contains
four irregular versed paragraphs, with a mode of horror. Dulce et Decorum Est is about the
poets personal experiences during World War I, where he was primarily based on the Western
front of France. Wilfred Owen vividly describes the horrific events that he and his fellow soldiers
had to encounter and witness whilst under a gas attack. The author, who acts as the primary
speaker throughout the poem, explains the fatigue and exhaustion the men felt during a gas
attack and how they rushed for their gas masks, to save themselves from the poisonous blast.
The poet also addresses the reader and claims that if they too were to have experienced the
tragedies of war and watched men die before them, they would no longer encourage their
children to go to war.

Through further analysis of this text, I hope to assert that the poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, is
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still applicable to today’s society and the wars we are fighting. Becoming a soldier is depicted
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as being a heroic act, however, often it leaves people struggling with post-traumatic stress
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disorder (PTSD), and, being unable to live their lives as they used to prior to war, due to the
horrific events they have encountered. Therefore, I hope to draw connections between war and
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its impact on PTSD. The theoretical concept that is most applicable to this poem is New
Historicism, as I wish to determine the relationship between the text itself and the historical
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importance. Also, I will make connections between the concept of subjectivity, as war leads
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individual subjects to sacrifice themselves for their country by placing nationalism before
themselves. The research that I will be gathering includes assessing the culture and societal life
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during WWI, forms of propaganda that was distributed throughout WWI and compare that to the
forms we see today. I will gather historical documents and biographies of those who have
returned from war, alongside historical texts that represent information surrounding WWI.

I have chosen this text because it is personal to me as my past relatives participated in WWI,
thus, I wish to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of soldiers at war during this
time. My previous encounters with this text, will further enhance the beginning foundations of
the study. I am excited about gaining a deeper intellectual understanding of what happened to
societies during WWI and establishing how the problems that occurred in the early 20th century
are still applicable today. However, I am anxious about revealing the truth and severity of war on
people’s ability to return to societal life.

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