Dulce et Decorum Est: Sweet and Proper Indeed

The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen is one of my favorite poems for a number of reasons. One is that I love the post WWI era poets and their style of writing. 

In this poem Owen gives a haunting recount of war-time experiences. He uses language that matches what he would have seen in battle. Ugly words. Jagged words. Sludge and trudge are two words used to emphasize the nastiness of life at war. Sacks and backs are words Owen uses to establish cacophony (harsh sounds) within this piece. He structures the language like this very intentionally so that he can bring the reader into his own war experience as closely as possible through the use of language and I think he does that incredibly well. 

The second part of this poem is sort of a reflection on what it is to live after war. Owen talks about how “In all [his] dreams, before [his] helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” This line, and poem, is important because it gives us early accounts of the trauma people face at war before it was something commonly talked about or researched. 

Another thing I like about this piece is near the end of the poem Owen addresses someone as “my friend.” The last four lines of this poem is a direct challenge to another poet of the time, Jessie Pope, who was well known for her “patriotic” poems that called young men to action and encouraged them to enlist and fight in the war. I love how Owen takes this stance and directly responds to Pope using his own personal experience as an example. 

This poem is not only amazing as a piece of literature but it is an equally important historical document in reference to the political climate of the early twentieth century as well as the effects that war has on people at an individual level.