Dulce et Decorum Est Essay -- English Literature

Dulce et Decorum Est contrasts intensely with the poems mentioned. Poems such as Fall In, The Two Mothers, Who's for the Game? and Recruting only have one motive, they are created to encourage people to enrol in the armed forces. "Dulce et Decorum Est" contrasts intensely with the poems mentioned. Poems such as "Fall In", "The Two Mothers", "Who's for the Game?" and "Recruting" only have one motive, they are created to encourage people to enrol in the armed forces. Whereas Owen wrote "Dulce et Decorum Est " in order to inform people about the terror, anguish and torment which was experienced during the war. The recruiting poems make the war seem like a game and that you would be missing out on a big opportunity if u don't go, when really you would be better off safe at home! Verse One Verse one describes how the soldiers are returning to base camp. Owen uses a slow halting rhythm to suggest how much pain and misery the soldiers are encountering and to imitate how slow are walking. He does this by using punctuation. Verse one tells us a lot about the condition, both physically and mentally, of the men and it gives us an idea of the appalling conditions! He portrays this by his use of similes, metaphors and vocabulary. He uses similes such as, "Bent double, like hags"; this simile illustrates how many of the men fall ill! Owen also uses metaphors such as, "Drunk with fatigue", to display how tired the infantrymen are, this metaphor leads us to believe that the men are so tired that they are unaware what is happening around them! The poet's choice of vocabulary in verse one is very effective in communicating the message of fatigue. He uses words such as sludge, trudge, and haunting to describe the ... ...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." This verse is directed at the authority figures! In the "Charge of the Light Brigade" onomatoepia is used to communicate the bravery of the soldiers and to recreate the sounds on the battlefield, "thunder'd" and "stormed at by shot and shell". Owen uses onomatoepia to describe the death of the soldier in the last verse, "Gargling from froth-corrupted lungs". My favourite out of the two poems has to be Wilfred Owen's, "Dulce et Decorum Est", mainly because it is more realistic about what I would have imagined the war to be like! It is the more emotional poem of the two as it is filled with the writer's own thoughts, fears and feelings. I think it is a wonderful piece of work and enjoyed studying it in depth!