Dulce Et Decorum Est

By Wilfred Owen1893-1918

Wilfred Owen

• Wilfred Owen was born om March 18, 1893.

• He was on the Continent, teaching, when he decided to visit a hospital for the wounded and then decided, in September 1915, to return to England and enlist in the war (that’s WW1).

Wilfred Owen

• He said “I came out [to the war] in order to help these boys—directly by leading them as well as an officer can; indirectly, by watching their sufferings that I may speak of them as well as a pleader can. (October, 1918)

Wilfred Owen

• Owen was injured March 1917 and sent home; he was fit for duty in August 1918, and returned to the front.

• On November 4th, just seven days before the Armistice, he was caught in a German machine gun attack and killed.

• He was 25 years old when he died.

Wilfred Owen

• The bells were ringing on November 11, 1918, in Shrewsbury, England, to celibrate the Armistice, when the doorbell rang at his parent’s home, bringing them the telegram to tell them their son was dead.

“Dulce Et Decorum Est”

Lets look at the poem together, and analyse it using the TPCASTT method.

When we are done, we should be able to determine the THEME and come up with a THEME STATEMENT.

T Title What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented

in the title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?

P Paraphrase Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

C Connotation What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart

below.

Form Diction Imagery

Point of View Details Allusions

Symbolism Figurative Language Other Devices

(antithesis, apostrophe, sound devices, irony, oxymoron, paradox, pun, sarcasm,

understatement)

A Attitude What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about

others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

S Shifts Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? Look for time and place,

keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?

T Title Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the

overall interpretation of the poem?

T Theme List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall

theme. The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

Title

What initial impression do you have from the title?

“DULCE ET DECORUM EST”

Title

Latin words that mean “it is sweet and right” (good and proper)

Paraphrase

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed throughsludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Paraphrase

Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

Soldiers are running through trenches, tired, sick, shoe-less, weak and suffering. They are trying to get somewhere safe before the next gas attack.

Paraphrase

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!---An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick greenlight,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

Paraphrase

Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

Suddenly, a gas attack occurs and they all struggle to put on their gas masks. All but one succeeds. The victim is suffocating in the gas, clutching at others to help him.

Paraphrase

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

Paraphrase

Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

As the rest of the soldiers stumble along behindthe wagon, they see their comrade dying in thewagon’s box. They hear his struggling breaths ashis lungs dissolve to liquid and he slowly andpainfully dies.

Paraphrase

If in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--- My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

Paraphrase

Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

If you were to have seen what I saw and heard what I heard, you would not tell this story tochildren anxious to hear of the glories of war.You would have to lie when you tell them that itis “sweet and right to die for your country”.

Connotation

What meaning does the poem have beyond theliteral meaning? Pay attention to the following:FORM DICTION IMAGERY POINT OF VIEW ALLUSIONS SYMBOLISM CACOPHONYFIGURATIVE LANGUAGE DISSONANCE IRONY OXYMORON PARADOX PUN SARCASMUNDERSTATEMENT SIMILE METAPHOR

Connotation

Examples:Similes: …like old beggars under sacks

…coughing like hags …flound'ring like a man in fire or lime …As under a green sea …like a devil's sick of sin

Connotation

Examples:“our distant rest” -peace or death?“blood-shod” -wearing blood as shoes (imagery)“ecstasy of fumbling” –mixed image“Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning” –image of being under the sea,

watching a man drown from the safety of a mask, helpless to look away“white eyes writhing” –alliteration, assonance“gargling” –onomatopeoia“incurable sores on innocent tongues” –implies disease given to the innocents as a result of war, (like the “old lie”)“desperate glory” -oxymoron

Attitude

What is the speaker’s attitude? How does thespeaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’sattitude? How does the author feel about thespeaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

Attitude

Speaker’s attitude -colourless, defeated, hopeless, resigned, frantic, helpless, accusing, spiteful, troubled

Poet’s attitude –acceptance, perseverance, fervour, horror, blaming

Shifts

Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, attitude, pace, language, diction, etc. occur? Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in lengthor rhyme, and sentence structure. What is thepurpose of each shift? How do they contributeto effect and meaning?

Shifts

Shifts in pace -“Gas! Gas! -“marching dead” becomes frenzied

movements of placing the gas mask on “just in time”.Shifts in attitude -first stanza: dull, resigned,

-second stanza: frenzied, panicked -third stanza: horrified -fourth stanza: indignant, preaching

Title

Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level.What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?

Title

The title is ironic; it shows us that it is NOT “sweet and right to die for your country”.Rather, it says death in war is a horrible way toserve your country. The poet asks you to consider war’s tragiceffects, going beyond the often-quoted imagesof bravery, heroism, duty and glory.

Theme

List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme. The theme must be written in a complete sentence that could be used to form a thesisstatement.

Theme

Subjects:war, death, suffering, exhaustion, glory

Theme statements:War is not the path to glory.Death as the result of war is seldom glorious.Exhaustion and suffering are the terrible consequences of war.Dying for one’s country may not be noble.The glorification of war is horribly wrong.