Imagery In Dulce Et Decorum Est

Superior Essays
War is like a photograph. It’s beautiful and fascinating until you realize it’s completely staged and not what your eyes made it out to be.
Wilfred Owen’s poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, is a piece of art written during World War I. He shows us the truths about war using imagery to make our minds run free and find the pictures he is trying to show us.
There are parts of the poem that show us a “brought to life” side of the poem and a side that unsuccessfully shows the audience the life of World War I. Wilfred Owen uses imagery to try and draw us into the poem. In the first stanza he says, “Bent double, like old beggars, under sacks, /Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, this brings attention to the audience on how soldiers became weak and ill (Owen, 1-2). This really brought to life disease during war. In any war, we hear about there are diseases that are caught because the conditions are usually poor for the soldiers especially during the earlier wars. I loved the imagery these first two lines brought to life, it represents real effects of the war, disease and losing of strength due
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These lines are the most powerful, “The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est/ Pro patria mori (Owens, 27-28). To me, this previous quote from the poem is what the whole piece is trying to preach and make notable. It’s not saying war is a complete let down but it’s saying because behind this poem there is relationship bonds like no other, the strength of your physical, mental, and emotional states, there is honor and glory and true fulfillment. But this can all be easily covered by the dark secrets of war. There are all of theses myths, tales, stories, whatever the case, about how war is glorious and sweet. The tales cover up how war really is. This comes back to propaganda. We are taught about how great glorious and honoring it is to go serve your country but we are truly hidden from the truths and experiences of

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