Dulce Et Decorum

Est

About the poem

It is about soldiers being gassed and the
brutality of war. The poem fight against
propaganda and shows the truths and
reality of war.
Key themes include; War, Death, Suffering, Lies

QUOTES

guttering, choking, drowning.

Tripling, this shows the struggle and continued torment of
the soldier. Shows the reader how horrific it is.
Hard hitting, violent vocabulary. Echoes the violence that
the soldiers faced.
Imagery, of sea and drowning. A really horrific way to die.
Submerged by death and chocked by the poisonous gas.
End stopped line, to show that he has suddenly passed. An
abrupt end to his life.

Obscene as cancer bitter as the

cud
Imagery of a harrowing death on the front lines.
Comparison to cancer shows how lethal and horrific the
death is and how at the time it was futile to try and cure
it.
bitter harsh, ugly and sour(?)
obscene shows how offensive the deaths at war where
and also how immoral . How the weapons disfigured
soldiers was disgusting.

Bent double, like old beggars

under sacks
Juxtaposition comparing young boys to old crippled men
Imagery pitiful, disfigured, desperate
Affects of war aged the young and made them mature too
early

Come gargling from the froth

corrupt lungs
Corrupt Diseased, infected and contaminated.
Dramatic word
Gruesome and grotesque imagery. Foreign substance.
Your lungs are full of this disgusting poison.
Unjust

STRUCTURE

 The stanzas are random and mirror the chaos that is

within the poem
There are rhyming couplets such as sacks and backs.
This creates a rhythmic structure that mirrors the soldiers
trudging through the trenches.
The lines 15-16 are separate from the rest of the poem
this shows their importance and the significance of the
events
There is also a full stop at the end of these lines
representing the abrupt death of the unfortunate soldier

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 Wilfred Owen was a soldier and wrote his poems to show

the truth about war and unveil the horrific events
He did this to protect the young men who made the choice
to sign up for war and risked their lives.
He wanted to prevent pro-war propaganda

COMPARISON

 Both Dulce and Manhunt, are trying to ward off people from going to

war.
Both poems show the effects of war.
Manhunt has 2 lines every stanza this shows a move controlled
structure than Dulce as if replaying the events instead of being
involved in the mess of war like Dulce.
In Dulce everything happens all at once whereas in Manhunt it is
slow and calm, this shows the calm after the storm of war.
Manhunt shows the after and long term effects of war whereas Dulce
shows the immediate and more sudden effects of war.
Manhunt is a much more modern view of war and slightly naive
compared to the other first hand view from an actual soldier in Dulce.
Both show the injuries and death associated with war and how
comrades, friends and family are effected.