Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori means it is a sweet and glorious

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Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori means it is a sweet and glorious

thing to die for your country. It is a poem written by an officer

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Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori means it is a sweet and glorious

thing to die for your country. It is a poem written by an officer in

the army in the world war one. The poem contains four stanza’s which

all vary in their lengths.

The first stanza is a description of a group of young soldiers

retreating from the frontline. The lines are long which show how slow

they are walking. The stanza focuses on the physical and psychological

aspects of what it must be like to be in a war. The words that are

used emphasise on this, haunting flares and also a sinister feeling.

On the first line a simile is used as the poet refers to the young men

to be ‘like’ old men. He also emasculates the men on the second line

by calling them ‘hags’ which is a noun that compares them to old aged

women who are in a very bad state. On the third line the adjective

‘haunting’ is used which adds a supernatural feeling to the poem.

Following there is the word ‘flares’ which is ambiguous is it could

symbolise an attack or it could mean flares as in the flames of fire.

The word ‘backs’ is used also on that line as the soldiers maybe

trying to get away from the bad that was happening behind them or

maybe it was a war that was spreading as quick as a fire that is why

the word ‘flares’ is used. The men marched asleep on the fifth line as

they were exhausted and this exhaustion seemed to be trudging around

with them while they’re in battle. Also on the same line, it says

‘many had lost their boots’, I think boots are a symbol of a man, this

also could mean the men were emasculated an...

... middle of paper ...

...eaks directly to the

reader, showing they are both the same and they are both to blame.

‘Children’ is used on the next line as it shows they are still young,

innocent, vulnerable and need protecting. On line 27 the word ‘Lie’ is

used, the uppercase letter reinforces that the lie is not just a lie

it is a large one. The words that come next in Italics is the actual

title of the poem ‘Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’, these words

are written in Italics to they stand out. They also conclude the irony

of the poem, as irony has built up to this point during the poem by

using horrific images and language. The last stanza is one which is

contemplative and reflective.

The poem has a universal message as it can be related to situations

all over the world. The situations could be in the past, present or

the future however the moral will always stay the same.

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