Dulce Et Decorum Est: A Literary Analysis

The truth about writers during the proper and feeble Victorian period and the writers of the bold and daring modernist movement is that they write to, in some way, influence their audiences to feel or perceive their ideas in a way not experienced before. The purpose of these literary movements is to push the limits held by society and long established propriety; furthermore, it becomes clear through the works produced during these times that there were similar internal messages to be deciphered as the core incentives. We can make connections through vastly different texts simply because they are an extension of each other. One way or another we can see how there was, in this case, influence from the Victorians to the modernists. Without one

Modernists felt very inclined to write about the world war that was going on at the time, they felt as if it were necessary to put forth the ugliness and sheer destruction war brought to society and individuals alike. A lot of poems were produced describing vivid battle scenes which usually ended in mass death; for example, in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est, we see this gruesome picture of men being attacked by poisonous gas and Owen’s own bitter thoughts on whether it is truly honorable and/or worth it to die for one’s country. In this poem, there is an obvious awareness of impending death however in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson there is a blind eye turned to the possibility of death because of careless actions. Throughout the story, we see a constant inner struggle of power and dominance between Dr. Jekyll and his troublesome alter ego Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately, Hyde completely overruns the respected and demure doctor, utterly succumbing to the poison taken to change personalities and dying. In his last letter, Dr. Jekyll acknowledges his faults yet expresses concern for the future awaiting Hyde since the truth had been discovered. The parallels of careless death, in Owen’s own words and in Stevenson’s pivotal story, is uncanny – the differing reactions to death both bitter and reflective shows the underlying connection of a modernist and a Victorian take on