Veteran's Poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'

During the time of the First World War, many people believed it to be beautiful and grand to go off to war and die for one’s own country. However, in the WW1 Veteran’s poem called “Dulce et Decorum Est”, Wilfred Owen portrays images of disaster and despair during war because he believes that it is no longer a glorious moment to go into war and die. Because of the trauma it causes, the men experience the battle to a point where it both mentally and physically ruins the rest of their lives. He uses his vivid imagery and similes to describe the horrid scene of war. Because Owen was in the war, his intense imagery that was used to support his feeling of dislike towards battle captures the attention of all readers and causes them to feel the pain and suffering he went through. When describing the long walks in the trenches and on the battlefield, he illustrates the men’s attitude by calling them “drunk with fatigue” (line 7). Once the soldiers left their county to fight, everyone was celebrating. But, as the soldiers started experiencing war …show more content…
While describing a scene of a friend suffocating from mustard gas, Owen states that sight was as “obscene as cancer” and “bitter as the cud” (line 23). Everyone knows that cancer is a silent, lethal killer that torments its victims. This is how Owen to wants the readers to see war as a whole. Instead of being happy and rejoicing at the fact these men are going into a place like that, people need to understand what war truly is and how it affects the soldiers. Watching a friend die is nothing to celebrate or call a beautiful thing. It traumatizes these young men and ruins them for the rest of their lives. Owen portrays with these crude similes to connect to the reader and describe war in a way that might change their way of thinking about war being a glorious