Teachers’ information sheet and key
Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen- thought to have been written between 8
October 1917 and March, 1918
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
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.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, (imagery)
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
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.
Extra info teachers
Explanation of title: irony: ‘’it is sweet and honourable to die for your country’’. From
Horace's Odes. Many people went to public school. Everyone who went to public school
learned the same Latin poems and heard the same speeches about glory and honor.
Because our speaker knows that his readers are the educated elite, he's got no problem
tossing off quotes from Horace.
Key to guiding questions:
1
First read the poem and try to understand the meaning of the words and
sentences
2
Who is speaking in the poem and how can you tell?
Line 4: towards our distant rest; Line 14: I saw him drowning
3
Who is he speaking to?
Line 17: If in some smothering dreams you too could pace… To us, the people who
weren’t there
4
How does the author describe the soldiers in the first stanza?
Line 1/2: like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags. Not very
glorious and hero like….
5
What is happening in stanza two? What is meant by the green sea? Is it really
a sea?
There is a mustard gas attack (which is green). Soldiers try to put on their helmets but
one of them sadly fails and dies in a horrible way.
6
The fourth short stanza consists of only two lines. Why is the effect of this?
And what is the relation to the content of the lines?
These two rather isolated lines stand out. They draw the attention towards the content.
Here the soldier describes the haunted dreams he has as a result of the event with the
mustard gas
7
Who is the ‘’you’’ in stanza four?
The reader, spectator, the one who wasn’t there.
8
What is the author’s message to the ‘’you’’ in stanza four?
That if he/she had witnessed the horrors of the war, he/she would never tell
children/potential soldiers that it is good and honourable to go to war and die for your
country.
9
Why is the Latin title a lie according to the author?
Because it is not sweet and honourable to die for your country but a waste and the
images and terror of it will haunt you for the rest of your life
10
Have a look at the rhyme scheme and write the a,b,c,d scheme etc. next to
the lines as far as possible. Where does the rhyme scheme stop?
After line 12 it becomes a bit chaotic and loses its regular pattern. (The stanzas of
"Dulce" disintegrate as the horrors of war start to mess with our speaker's mind. The first
stanza the ABABCDCD rhyme scheme divides the stanza neatly in two. When we get to
the second (and third) stanzas, however, things begin to fall apart. Stanza two seems
like it should follow the pattern laid out by the first stanza –after all, it has an ABABCD
rhyme scheme, as well. The change in the rhyming pattern mirrors the increasing horrors
of war).
11
Apart from the rhyme scheme there is also something strange happening to
the rhythm. Try to detect this while reading the poem aloud.
The rhythm also loses its regular pace. Once we get to the fourth (and final) stanza of this
poem, all hell breaks loose. Sure, we're still in pentameter, but we've got twelve (count them:
twelve) lines to deal with. And the last lines sure aren't in pentameter. It's almost as if the form
mimics our speaker's inability to get the war out of his head. The poem just can't stop where it
should…if only because our speaker can't seem to get himself out of the atrocities of the
battleground.
12
How do the things you have discovered about the rhyme and rhythm relate to
the content of this poem?
The chaos and horror of the war is reflected in the structure of the poem.