Dulce Et Decorum Est, The Sentry, And The Show

Cause and Effect - “Dulce et decorum est”

Wilfred Owen is a British poet, well known for his works relating to World War I. Many of his most famous works such as, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” “The Sentry,” and “The Show” were influenced by Owen’s personal life. Owen strived to tell the truth in his poetry, a factor that would expose the world to war’s deepest secrets. In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, the soldier’s perceptions of War are shaped by his involvement on the battlefield; propaganda on the home front presents war as an honour however, the use of violent imagery illustrates war as a corruption of the mind and body.

From an early age Owen aspired to be a poet yet he lacked inspiration. He studied at the Birkenhead Institute

as well as the Shrewsbury Technical College. Due to health complications Owen returned to England and began to read literature and write poetry in his spare time. Pressured by propaganda, he enlisted in the war in October 1915. After spending the remainder of the year training with the Manchester Regiment, Owen was shipped to the front lines where Owen began to discover the reality of War. After living for several weeks in fear from enemy weaponry and witnessing the loss of several close friends, Owen began to experience shell shock and was sent to a psychiatrist. The several psychiatrists assisted Owen in overcoming the trauma of war and death. Many suggested he turn to poetry to express individual emotion and perspectives on World War I. Having endured such misery, Owen aimed to express in his poetry “the pity of war,” rather than its “glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power”, ideas that had been established as the reality of war among the general population (Wilfred Owen Biography). Owen was never mentally the same after his experience in the First World War. In his eyes war was surrealistic - he coped by ignoring the loss and refusing to grieve. Nonetheless, Owen’s poetry was influenced greatly by his experiences in war, it is through his poetry that he was able to overcome the nightmare of war.

Wilfred Owen recounts a vivid memory from the First World War in his poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Through the use of vigorous imagery and figurative language, Owen presents his perspective of war in comparison to the image delivered by propaganda. Owen begins the poem by establishing a haunting and threatening atmosphere. He introduces his perspective on war as tragic, describing the soldiers as cursing “through sludge”, “coughing like hags”, “blood-shod” from the days suffering in battle (Dulce et Decorum Est). Adding to Owen’s image of War’s tragedy, he recounts his individual memory of the first poison gas attack during the Battle of Ypres. We are presented with a man fighting the virulent gas, “under a green sea”, “before [Owen’s] helpless sight [...] choking, drowning, guttering”(Dulce et Decorum Est). Owen uses the metaphor of drowning in a green sea as “drowning” connotes the slow and painfulness of the green gas’ effects, similarly to drowning in a body of water. Shifting into the present tense, recounting rather than living his nightmare, Owen begins to shift his attitude to one of resentment and bitterness. He resents those who believe war to be “some desperate glory” where in reality his experience presents war as a desperate tragedy (Dulce et Decorum Est). By combining his emotional experience in war and his talent for expressing individual emotion, Owen effectively delivered his perspective on War. War is not the old patriotic lie, “Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori”, it is the presence of suffering and corruption, a reality Wilfred Owen discovered during the First World War.