Dulce Et Decorum Est Attitude

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Positive sentiment towards the military waxes and wanes over the years. Our current climate is one of hero worship. Not only are athletes who refuse to stand for the national anthem are accused of not supporting the troops, some are even subjected to death threats for it. While World War I was going on, the public was encouraged to do all they could to support “our boys”. On the other hand, during and after the Vietnam War, returning soldiers were spat on and called baby-killers. For the most part though, serving your country is largely perceived in a favorable light. While many see enlisting in the military as honorable and dying in service to one’s country a noble sacrifice, in his poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, through the use of unpleasant imagery, figures of speech and point-of-view, Wilfred Owen disputes this assertion. …show more content…

These similes start the poem off by putting the image of age and decrepitude in the reader’s mind, instead of the youth and vigor that one would expect from soldiers that are most likely in their late teens and early twenties. The next few lines continue on in this vein. “Trudge” (4), “marched asleep” (5), “limped on” (6), “All went lame; all blind” (6), “drunk with fatigue” (7) and “deaf” (7) are all words and phrases that further the impression of men who are beaten down and broken. They are not portrayed as the conquering victors the country they serve wants to see them as. In fact, they are so numbed by their experiences, the thing they are deaf to is “gas-shells dropping softly behind” (8), which sets up the next

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