“Dulce et Decorum Est”by Wilfred Owen

WILFRED OWEN – POETRY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR “My subject is War and the Pity of War.

The Poetry is in the Pity” - Owen. By analysing the poetic techniques of ONE

of these poems – “Disabled”, “Spring Offensive”, “Exposure” or “Dulce et Decorum Est” – show how Owen uses the poetry to convey the pity.

War Poetry – techniques and the “Pity of War.” Ensure you answer the question. Keep relevant by defining the key terms in

your introduction - poetic techniques i.e. imagery, word choice, rhythm, rhyme/para-rhyme, tone etc – the poetry and the pity. How effective are these techniques in conveying the pity of war?

What is your reaction and the readers’ reactions to these poems?

War Poetry – techniques and the “Pity of War.” You must refer closely to

the text and quote. You must analyse the

comparisons and the effects of the word choices and techniques. How well does Owen achieve his purpose in making the reader feel pity?

WILFRED OWEN – POETRY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Introduction: e.g. I really felt the “pity of war” that Owen describes

when I saw a TV dramatisation of Owen in Craiglockhart Hospital, Edinburgh writing the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. There was a soldier in bed wakening up from a night-mare about a gas attack.

Introduction: e.g. The word choice, tone, imagery and other poetic

techniques used in the poem are effective in bringing out the “pity of war” and showing how it is an old Lie to claim “it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country”.

Synopsis: e.g. The poem describes the soldiers returning from the

front for a period of rest. They are all exhausted and look ragged. They do not look like proud military men marching in uniform at all but “like beggars”.

They hear the gas shells trying to find their range but are too lethargic to worry about them. Then suddenly the enemy find their range and the shells hit them. One man fails to fit his helmet in time and is gassed. Owen, as the officer in charge, cannot help him when he comes towards him for assistance.

Synopsis: e.g. The man chokes to death in a slow agonising

torture. His dying body is “flung” on a wagon and the soldiers have to march behind and watch his tormented body spewing up blood “from the froth corrupted lungs”.

Owen asks his reader if this is a patriotic and heroic death or if it is a lie to say “it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country.”

Techniques PEE ( point, example, explanation) – take each of the verses

and look at all the techniques. Point out what the technique is, give an example and explain how it shows the “pity of war”. Verse 1 shows by using a simile how ragged the soldiers are:

“Bent double like old beggars under sacks” Just as old beggars carry their possessions on their back and

are ragged and untidy so in the same way these soldiers are weighed down carrying their kit bags and do not look like military men proud in their uniforms. This shows the exhaustion of the men returning from fighting and I feel pity for them.

Techniques Now continue with the

PEE techniques as shown in class with all the other poetic techniques in verse 1 , 2 and 3.

Conclusion Make a personal comment on the theme of the

poem and how the poetic techniques affected you and made you think about the “pity of war” and the theme that it is a lie to think that “it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country.”

Use phrases like: to me, the horrific imagery of the last verse made me feel…or I think … I feel that… I consider…

“The Poetry is in the Pity.”