by Stella Mcintyre

Created on: April 24, 2009

Written whilst receiving treatment for shell shock in Craiglockart, Dulce et Decorum Est is a bitter response to Owen's first hand experience of war and an attack on propagandists, most particularly Jessie Pope. The poem can be divided into three sections: a description of soldiers leaving the battlefield, a mustard gas attack and a challenge thrown out to those who glorify war.

The first section includes a series of descriptions of soldiers that is at odds with the smartly uniformed young men being waved off by loved ones and sweet-hearts, familiar to those left behind. These men have become old and beaten down with exhaustion, pain and fear, "old beggars, bent double" and "hags". Owen wants to show the reality of war, not some false glorification. World War One was the first global conflagration and the first to use large amounts of technology. It was a disaster for ordinary soldiers; practically a whole generation of young men was wiped out.

On top of all this there were major blunders in getting supplies to troops. No wonder then that some "had lost their boots" and walked "blood-shod". The term "blood-shod" not only describes the men's feet covered in blood but brings to mind connotations of blood-shot and blood-shed, phrases that aptly describe the situation. Overall the scene is one of weariness and defeat; the personification of the Five-nines, 5.9 caliber shells, says it all. The weaponry of warfare has taken on the feelings of its victims. It is the soldiers who are "tired and outstripped".

The reader is jolted from the somnambulant generality of the slow trudge from the battle into a specific incident. The urgency and immediacy of the gas attack is presented through the use of the present continuous and the shouted exclamations "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!". Owen uses an extended metaphor of the sea and drowning to recreate the froth-choked drowning caused by a gas attack.

The next two lines are separated to show their purpose as a link between the reality of war and the warning to those who present it otherwise. Owen continues the linked metaphor of sleep walking, dreams and nightmares "In all my dreams", to show how relentless this returning image is; and how awful. "My helpless sight" takes on two meanings here. Firstly, Owen is unable to offer help to the afflicted comrade and secondly, he is helplessly unable to keep his dreams from returning to this episode. Again the use of the present continuous in "guttering, choking, drowning" adds to the constant

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