Edward Barsegyan

21 September 2017

English 102

The Real outcome of War

The poem Dulce et Decorum est written by Wilfred Owen uses irony along with

imagery in the poem along with letters to his mother to detail his experience as a soldier to

showcase the horrific events that he had witnessed in World War 1. Although the title means It

is sweet and honorable to die for for your country, the authors use of imagery tells a different

story.

Wilfred Owen was born in England on March 18 of 1893, grew up to become a poet and

later enlisted in the British Army for World War 1. Owens inspiration for this poem came from

his mentor Siegfried Sassoon, another poet who wrote about the horrors of war. Owen would

also periodically send letters to his mother to her know hes safe. Owen wrote this poem to

portray the actual horrors witnessed by soldiers in the battlefield. Unfortunately, Owen was

killed in battle one week before the signed armistice and his poem was published posthumously.

Owen uses imagery in his letters to detail the horrific events of war to his mother.

In one of the letters to his mother, Owen uses imagery to describe the horrors and bone-

rattling events of a true war. One of the lines in the poem is For twelve days we lay in holes,

where at any moment a shell might put us out A big shell lit on the top of the bank, my brother

officer lay opposite in a similar hole. But he was covered with earth, and no relief will ever

relieve him, nor will his Rest be a 9 days-Res(Line 7-11 of the letter). The sight of his ally lying

dead covered in dirt shows there is no easy rest for the weary. Owen wrote this to symbolize how

during the entire war theres no safe places and that no one can rest easy even after their
untimely death. His commanding officers dieing is a constant reminder during his serving that

anything can happen at anytime and not even the best are safe.

In response to that quote in an article by Daniel Hipp, he states The primary cause of

Owen's trauma can be established as a single horrifying experience--days spent in a dug out, far

into No Man's Land, during which he played the role of the passive commander of his men, as all

endured some fifty hours of shelling(Hipp 1-2). What Hipp is trying to say is that the trauma

and fear that soldiers experience is being constantly attacked and helplessly trapped with no way

out. Being trapped in a foxhole, constantly being bombed with no hope of survival leering over

the soldiers heads instills massive stress and fear in the hearts of the soldiers. Another quote by

Hipp states But the event that triggered the onset of his symptoms of stammering and

disorientation occurred three months later, when a shell blast threw him into the air and left him

face to face with another dead companion.(Hipp 2). What Hipp is trying to say is that even if

one survives the trauma of bombing, the scars follow them their entire life.

With fear comes the trauma that follows it, a line in the poem details one of Owens

horrifying experiences fighting the war which scarred him for the remainder of his life. Owen

writes Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in

time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling(Line 8-10). When Owen and his platoon

were getting gassed, they all quickly put on their gas masks, except for one. The following line

states And floundring like a man in fire or lime.Dim through the misty panes and thick green

light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.(Line 11-13) Looking at his poor soldier,

choking and fumbling around from the gas, finally succumbing to the poisonous gas. This

imagery was a powerful reality of the true horror in war, seeing a friend suffer tremendously and

die in front of your eyes while not being able to help. After surviving the gas attack, Owen wrote
In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking,

drowning(Line 14-15). Owen wrote this line to symbolize the nightmares he had after the

incident. His friend dying in front of his eyes, grasping him in his dreams as if to call for help

and save him. Owen, trapped in his dream constantly suffers the horrible memory. Owen

constantly sees the nightmare in his dream and is unable to do anything to save his friend.

Another article by John Hughes states This recurrent nightmare is the climax of the poem's

tendency, in its first half, toward an unfolding of the poet's interiority, his personal responses,

amid the texture of events it describes(Hughes 1). What Hughes argues is that the nightmare

Owen experiences is the true meaning of the poem, cultivating all the horror and shock into one

experience, one where all veterans of wars can relate to, the horrible memories which cant be

forgotten.

The title of the poem translates to It is sweet to die for ones country but Owen portrays

a different viewpoint in his writing. Owens use of imagery throughout the poem was to show the

irony between the name and the actual meaning of the poem. Judging by his experiences, its not

a sweet fate to die for one's country contrary to the belief of the general public back then. The

irony is shown in contrast near the end of the poem. The men who enlist are "innocent" (Line

24), they are "children" (Line 26) who have learned that war is full of "high zest" (line 25) and

this makes them "ardent for some desperate glory" (line 26). The new recruits are willing to

believe the veil over the true horrors but they will learn differently once they experience war first

hand.

War is a horrible thing that no one should experience first hand let alone be lied to and

war being downplayed to a mere disagreement to hide all the gruesome facts. The poem's

message is important because some people think war is a laughing matter but in reality it's
horrifying where thousands of people are dieing, most with no idea what theyre fighting for.

Owens use of his personal experiences and imagery in the poem and the letter to reveal the true

horrors behind wars dawns a whole new light on those who have never experienced and

hopefully never will.

 Works Cited

Hughes, John. "Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est.'." Poetry Criticism, edited by Michelle

Lee, vol. 102, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center,

library.lavc.edu:2077/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=lavc_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420

096669&asid=0e8006b12d7604c85d42792bac346c5e. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017. Originally

published in Explicator, vol. 64, no. 3, Spring 2006, pp. 160-162.

Hipp, Daniel. "'By Degrees Regain[ing] Cool Peaceful Air in Wonder': Wilfred Owen's

War Poetry as Psychological Therapy." Poetry Criticism, edited by Michelle Lee, vol. 102, Gale,

2010. Literature Resource Center,

library.lavc.edu:2077/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=lavc_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420

096666&asid=906b13b8ddaa93597712ca9a7b8bff6f. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017. Originally

published in Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 35, no. 1, Spring 2002,

pp. 25-49.

Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen

Letter to Susan Owen (25 April 1917)