Monday, May 27, 2019

How does Owen make clear his feelings about war in Dulce et Dorcum est? :: English Literature

How does Owen make clear his feelings about war in Dulce et Dorcum est?The title of this poem which is Dulce et Dorcum est, is a Latinsaying which means, It is sweet and honorable to die for yourcountry. It is written by Wilfred Owen who gives us his opinion aboutthis motto. He uses cardinal of his brutal memories to support his viewsand to analyze a stereotypical soldier as we visualize one in ourheads and one as he saw whilst fighting in the war.This memory is of a time when Owen, along with his fellow soldiers iswalking back to their rest place, when all of a sudden there is a gasattack. All except one of these soldiers manages to put on his gasmask in time therefore he dies a horrible death. The poem explores adifferent mood for apiece of the four stanzas. In stanza one the mood isslow and weary. In stanza two there is a mood, which is fast andpanicky. Stanza three explores a tragic mood and the final stanza hasa mood of bitterness and anger.Owen is successful in providing de tail throughout the poem. He is alsosuccessful in writing the poem as a memory, as he did fight in thewar. In this poem he effectively shows his thoughts and expressions,as he wants the reader to think of them. Owen accomplishes the mood in versify one through his use of language.The poem starts with the wrangle Bent Double, which introduces theimage of a soldier as Owen remembers one. These words show us the movement and figure of the soldiers. In reality you cannot walk bentreally close to the ground, therefore these words can be considered asmetaphors or slight exaggerations of what the soldiers were doing.These words start off the comparison of a real soldier with astereotypical one.Like old beggars below sacksThis implies the visual sight of the soldiers if an ordinary psychewere to see them. This sentence is a simile and therefore means thatthe soldiers look like beggars. The word sacks helps us to visualizethe soldiers walking really close to the ground, under the weight of asack. The simile above can also express torn clothes worn by thesoldiers, muddy faces, slight injuries taken on by the soldiers andthe mental conditions that they were facing. The simile compares thesesoldiers to people who have nothing to lose and their uniform tosacks, which indicates their shabby conditions. Another word, whichsuggests the speed at which soldiers move, is trudge.

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