http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174975

"I felt a funeral, in my brain"

                                                                                                                                               Thompson Long

                                                                                                                                                      01/27/2016

                                                                                                                                                     English 150

                                                            Dulce Et Decorum Est

Art has been used throughout history as a vessel of expression. Serving as a method of communication on a variety of pressing topics, ranging from politics to social issues. Poetry is no different. Often poetry is used to describe inexplicable things, the kind of things that cannot be explained in plain text or speech, grave pain, untethered euphoria, and mind rattling confusion. These are the kind of inner conflicts that poetry has been used to connect with an audience. Much like Otto Dix used his paintings as a way to show the world the horrors of the Great War, Wilfred Owen used his Poetry, none more famous and resonating than Dulce Et Decorum Est. Wilfred Owen he used poetry as a means to relinquish the tormenting images and thoughts festering in his soul as a result of the First World War. This paper will explore this momentous poem through the lens and perspective of the world at war during the early 20th century, and exactly how this “lens” allows us to delve beyond the plain meaning in the poem.

In order to find the deeper meaning surrounding this poem we must first understand its context, both Wilfred Owens, and the world around him. Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on March 18th, 1893, in Oswestry Wales. Owen was born to a middle class family by which he was able to receive an education through his 6th form. However, having failed to receive a scholarship to the London University, he became involved with the church. It was here where many believe he developed his keen sense of compassion and care for those less fortunate both physically and socioeconomically. During this time he read vast collections of poetry and began to write his own work. While his early works did not distinguish themselves as his works during the war, they do underlay his stylistic qualities of sound and modulating rhythm, one of his most heralded poetic qualities. After leaving the church he went on to Bordeaux to teach, later becoming a Francophile. Because of his experience he became keenly aware of the degree in which the French people were suffering due to the war raging across their country. In 1916 he returned home and enlisted, he was then sent to France as a lieutenant which Manchester’s Rifleman unit. Soon after arriving in France Owen's letters to his mother began to forlorn the heart wrenching poetry that would soon follow.

Owen's poetry depicted the kind of horror that was leveled upon every man who stepped foot in the trenches during the Great War. During the war, people were familiar with the statistics of the war, however, few personal accounts demonizing the war were made public for obvious reasons. Owens most poignant statement regarding constant fear that surrounded him every waking minute came in a letter to his mother in April, stating, “I kept alive on brandy, the fear of death, and the glorious prospect of the cathedral town just below us, glittering with the morning.” It is within letters like these that begin to show how poems such as Dulce Et Decorum Est. But how exactly was Owen able to describe a war that took entire generations of men off of the face of the earth in a way that defies the plain text? How was Owen able to flip the sentiment that it was noble to fight and die for your country, and instead expose that there is nothing noble or godly in what every enlisted man experienced in the trenches? A lot of the credit lies with his Dr. A. Brock, who treated Owen for severe headaches, which was later discovered to be symptoms of shell shock. The Poetry Foundation claims that “It seems likely that this sensitive psychologist and enthusiastic friend assisted Owen in confronting the furthermost ramifications of his violent experiences in France so that he could write of the terrifying experiences in poems such as Dulce et Decorum Est,” Because of this Owen was able to write one of the greatest condemnations of war in the history of literature, Dulce et Decorum Est.

The first stanza of Dulce Et Decorum Est. serves to set the scene of the poem, this portion can be read essentially as is, needing little deeper investigation. This portion describes the current state of the mentally and physically dilapidated state of the soldiers. The second stanza is arguably the most poignant and painful to read. This portion outlines a gas attack in which one individual cannot prepare himself in time, stating, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling…And flound’ring like a man on fire…as under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” It seems strange to describe the trauma of a gas attack as “ecstasy” however, as Kenneth Simcox notes, “Medically it means a morbid states of nerves in which the mind is occupied solely with one idea.” It is this type of description that makes Owen so revered amongst scholars. Stanza three, the shortest of the poem, serves as a brief look into Owens PTSD or Shell shock that haunted him throughout the war. It is not until stanza four that Owen begins his politically commentary on the war. He begins to attack the individuals who support the war blindly without understanding the atrocities that have been committed in its name. Stating, “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” Owen holds no punches in his final stanza, describing bodies being “flung into wagons”, and “blood gargling form froth covered lungs.” Interestingly, Simcox claims that “my friend” refers to Jessie Pope, a writer whose poetry glorified the war, the kind of poetry that Owen could not stand. As poignant as this story is, it is not considered to be Owens best. I believe Keneth Simcox said it most eloquently when he stated, “A poem seemingly written at white heat. Harsh, effective in the extreme, yet maybe too negative to rank among Owen's finest achievements: those poems in which he transcends the scorn and the protest and finds the pity.” Ultimately The title serves a resounding indictment of the accident lie told to centuries of young men, that “It is sweet and meet to die for ones country.”

Bibliography

Simcox, Kenneth. "Dulce Et Decorum Est." Dulce Et Decorum Est. Wilfred Owen Association, 2000. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.

"Wilfred Owen." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.

Rivers, Bryan. Wilfred Owen’s Letter No. 486 as a Source for “Dulce et Decorum Est”

Taylor and Francis Group, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2016.