A theme could be very obvious, yet never actually stated. In poetry themes are rarely stated but shown metaphorically. “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen takes place in Europe in the early 1900’s during World War 1, it is about a soldier and how he deals with the war. To the narrator war is ironically seen as a source of pride. The underlying theme in this poem is death. Although death is never mentioned until the very end where he writes ‘mori’ (‘to die’), it is still the motive for all the elements in the poem. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” there are multiple symbols that describe death.
The main theme in “Dulce et Decorum Est” is death because the poem is about war and unfortunately a large outcome and aspect of war is death. But, in war …show more content…
The reader can picture this dark scene through his words, “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” (Owen, 12-14). In these lines he elaborates on the color green to show what the soldiers saw. The color green is symbolic in this poem because it describes the agonizing death of the soldier. Green is obviously the color the poisonous gas omitted and it was a misty, thick green that suffocated the soldier as he struggled to get his gas mask on. The green gas caused the death in this …show more content…
The narrator is suffering from severe PTSD and is seeing the soldier every night in his dreams. His dreams are trapping him during this time when he wants to forget so badly, Owen writes, “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” (Owen, 15-16). Every night the narrator has dreams about this man dying and he cannot control it. The dreams he is having are messing with his mental state of mind and putting him through a hard time after already dealing with the war. He dreamt of him drowning in the gas and what they did with his dead body after. Reliving this traumatic event night after night is making the narrator go crazy. His recurring dreams are a symbol in this poem because they remind him of the death of his fellow soldier every
The main theme in “Dulce et Decorum Est” is death because the poem is about war and unfortunately a large outcome and aspect of war is death. But, in war …show more content…
The reader can picture this dark scene through his words, “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” (Owen, 12-14). In these lines he elaborates on the color green to show what the soldiers saw. The color green is symbolic in this poem because it describes the agonizing death of the soldier. Green is obviously the color the poisonous gas omitted and it was a misty, thick green that suffocated the soldier as he struggled to get his gas mask on. The green gas caused the death in this …show more content…
The narrator is suffering from severe PTSD and is seeing the soldier every night in his dreams. His dreams are trapping him during this time when he wants to forget so badly, Owen writes, “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” (Owen, 15-16). Every night the narrator has dreams about this man dying and he cannot control it. The dreams he is having are messing with his mental state of mind and putting him through a hard time after already dealing with the war. He dreamt of him drowning in the gas and what they did with his dead body after. Reliving this traumatic event night after night is making the narrator go crazy. His recurring dreams are a symbol in this poem because they remind him of the death of his fellow soldier every