Dulce et Decorum Est Analysis

1. The literal meaning is that the soldiers were carrying bags so heavy that their backs were bent, similar to beggars with heavy sacks on their backs. However, the implied meaning of this is to destroy people’s mindset of young brave soldiers fighting for their country. The reality was that the soldiers were very weak and suffering a lot from the war.
2. The writer uses sound devices like “GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!” to increase the tension as there is an element of danger. He uses similes like “And floundering like a man in fire or lime” to show us how horrifying war was, and the writer uses contrast between the phrases Quick, boys! , ecstasy of fumbling , and clumsy helmets recalls the young age of the inexperienced comrades, and the pitted landscape “Dim through the misty panes and thick green light.”
3. At the end of the poem, the writer says “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est’ in which the latin phrase means dying for your country is beautiful and sweet” but in reality, the writer wanted to warn against the so-called glories of war marketed to their paradoxically juvenile audience. The message he wanted to get across was War is not worth it, as Owen proves with the lie perpetuated across the world: Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country. I agree with it, because, war is meaningless because it only brings about death and suffering, therefore, dying for your country is not sweet, as shown in the poem, death can be inhumane and cruel.