1) The document provides biographical information about Wilfred Owen, the author of the war poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est." It notes that Owen enlisted in the army in 1915 and served as a soldier until his death in 1918.
2) The context section explains that the poem was written during World War 1 and describes some of the horrors of that war, including the use of lethal gases and millions of deaths.
3) The poem powerfully depicts a gas attack on soldiers and criticizes the idea that it is noble or honorable to die for your country in war. It aims to show children the real horrors of battle rather than ideas of patriotic glory.
2. Author
❏ Birth: 18 March, 1893, in Oswestry.
❏ Death: 4 November, 1918, 1 week before Armistice was signed.
❏ October 1815: He had already enlisted, and was at first in the Artists’ Rifles.
❏ In 1917 he went to a series of hospitals because of severe headaches.
❏ In Edinburgh´s hospital he meet Siegfried Sassoon.
❏ Between August 1917 and September 1918 he wrote most of his poems.
3. Context
❏ World War 1
❏ Involved multiple countries
❏ 37 million people died
❏ Children left their families, under the idea of patriotism
❏ Lethal gasses used
❏ A literary movement was born → war poetry
❏ Wrote according to personal experience
❏ In soldiers he found support and human relations
4. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
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 gas-shells dropping softly behind.
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 green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind 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 zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
5. Title
❏ Modeled and based on a poem by the Roman poet Horace entitled "Dulce et
Decorum est Pro Patria Mori,"
❏ Reflects a strong hatred towards war and the patriotism to die to defend your
country.
❏ Children should play and have fun
❏ Criticizes the lack of understanding from society and the church.
6. Important Quotations
❏ “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,/
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed
through sludge”
❏ “Men marched asleep”
❏ “My friend, you would not tell with such high
zest/ The old lie: Dulce et decorum est/ Pro
patria mori”
Literary Devices
❏ Simile:
“As under a green sea, I saw him drowning”
“His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”
❏ Metaphor:
“Drunk with fatigue”
❏ Alliteration
“Watch the white eyes writhing in his face”
❏ Imagery
“Old beggars under sacks”
“choking, drowning”
"the blood came gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs"
7. Themes
❏ Horrors of war
❏ Death
❏ War trauma
❏ Brotherhood
❏ Angry
❏ Critical
❏ Melancholic
❏ Disappointed
❏ Pity
Tone
8. Connection with Real Life
❏ Owen´s own experience as a soldier
❏ Present → e.g. Syria
❏ Involve the same, and also more developed weapons
that in WW1
❏ Share the themes, traumas and feelings explored in
the poem
Syria 2019
World War 1,
1914 - 1918
9. Message
❏ Criticism to the idea that its noble and honorable to die for your country
❏ War is not a heroic deed
❏ Men fight for their countries ambition
❏ Ruination of society and values.
10. Perception/Personal Opinion
❏ Shows an insight of the atrocities of war
❏ Value of friendship
❏ The situation is vividly portrayed → Imagery
