Irony In Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est

¨Dulce Et Decorum Est¨(It Is Sweet and Glorious) by Wilfred Owen is a poem to describe his (WIlfred Owen’s) traumatizing experience in World War 1. WIlfred Owen was a young poet at the time when he enlisted into the war to fight for England. Most of his works are based on his experience, and his disappointment of what the war was about.The poem was created on October 17th, 1917 during the first world war. In the poem, he describes many death-seeing experiences and many tragic events involving poison gas. He will explicate all the terrifying incidents through his words creating a vivid image of what truly happened. In this poem ¨Dulce Et Decorum Est¨ by Wilfred Owen, the idea that dying for your country isn’t as glorious as it seems is developed …show more content…
The title, ¨ Dulce Et Decorum Est¨ creates an illusion that tricks the reader into believing that this poem is going to be about how wonderful it is to fight for your country, but after he or she has read it he or she will learn that it was the opposite. In this poem, the writer uses irony in order to emphasize more on the meaning of the poem, rather than the title.Dulce Et Decorum Est, it is sweet and glorious. From this, one might be able to infer that this poem is going to mention how wonderful fighting in the war is, but it isn’t. For example, the title, ¨Dulce Et Decorum Est¨ , contradicts with the first line of the poem which is, ¨Bent Double, like old beggars under sacks, knock kneed, coughing like hags...¨. As one reads more into the poem, the more violent it becomes, and as a result the author uses irony to emphasize on how much more violent the war becomes. The effect of irony, in the first line highlights the horrible condition of the soldiers. In fact, the author uses the importance of irony as a way to start the poem in order to set the setting. The author also uses irony within the title to actually contradict with the last two lines of the poem which is also in latin. ¨The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.¨ It is sweet and glorious to die for your country. Wilfred Owen, used irony as a way convey that dying for their country is …show more content…
Throughout the entire poem, the author explains his experience in the war in overly descriptive words to describe human scarring experiences. During the war, WIlfred Owen does encounter many obliteration of humans, and in doing so it scarred him for the rest of his life. For example, words like ¨guttering, choking, drowning¨ describes his experience of seeing his comrades die right in front of him. Many of the deaths were caused by the poison gas, and in the poem, the author was trying to show how tragic it was to die by gas. The poison gas that was introduced by Germany caused you to basically die by drowning in your own blood. The words ¨guttering, choking, and drowning¨ basically describes the experience of dying because when soldiers were exposed to gas they would get severe blisters or even wounds that were permanent, or they might even die from it. During his experience with gas, no one had any secured protection from gas, therefore, people would be wounded from the gas. Also, his comrades were attacked by gas because if they didn’t put their gear on fast enough, there is a possibility of death or deep wounds. In front of him, his comrade was dying, choking because of the gas, and drowning from his own insides. That is what happened and that is what the author was trying to describe. In the use of describing this event, he used descriptive diction to describe his terrifying experience. However, he also uses tragic diction in