Dulce Et Decorum Est And Anthem For Doomed Youth

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The culture of World War I discussed in class was one of honor and duty. Looking at “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, one can see vivid descriptions of the horrors of the war as well as a bitter resentment toward the supposed “honor” associated with fighting for one’s country. Understanding the amount of casualties as well as the nature of deaths helped me sympathize with the speakers in the poem. Watching the film My Boy Jack was especially relevant because it introduced me to the pressure put on a man my age at that time. The speaker in Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” describes the war in a way that made me hate it. He also convinced me that fighting for one’s country is not as sweet when you’re choking on chlorine …show more content…
The men are described as cattle. This puts an image of a large amount of livestock being slaughtered. This understatement works to dehumanize the soldiers and in turn make us emotionally involved in the guilt for the war. The use of the religious themes also made the poem more sentimental as it added a spiritual aspect to the death of all the soldiers. The discussion of “Dulce et Decorum Est” in class really brought out the horrors of the war. Hearing each person in class talk about how disgusted it made them feel impressed me. It means that Owen got what he wanted. He succeeded in making us feel at least some of the pain that he …show more content…
As a child, I had no idea what my father went through to keep the cold out (11). The speaker feels the same way as he speaks normally to his father without realizing the magnitude of his sacrifice (10). The last two lines are a rhetorical question. The speaker is trying to say that being a child means you don’t see how one sided and plain-looking love can be. To the the speaker, his father was just getting up and making fire for the house, but the reader sees so much more. I, as a reader, see a father who would do anything for his children, going so far as to polish their shoes (12). I can relate to this because I never felt much emotional support from my dad and assumed it meant he didn’t love. Little did I know that love is very plain and hidden and can be seen in a person’s actions, not words. It’s not that I didn’t see my father come home from work tired, but rather I did not understand the dedication and love required to behave like that. I just thought that it is what all fathers do. The speaker had no idea as

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