Dulce et Decorum est

The theme of the poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est, is that Propaganda used during the war is not fair, nor is it correct, and lies to young men about how joining the war will bring them honor, and praise. Author Wilfred Owen is saying that this is not true, it brings corruption to young men, and takes away all innocence that is left in them, "incurable sores on innocent tongues". "My helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." This shows how the war was not all about honor for your country, it was about death, killing, and seeing your fellow soldiers die.

The author makes very good use of imagery throughout the poem. The first stanza of the poem describes the setting and how the young men are. “Bent double” shows how the men have been fatigued and worn, beyond the point where they could still stand up strait. He compares the young men to “old beggars under sacks”, saying that war turns young men with a full life ahead of them, and optimistic views into beggars that have given up on life and believe that life is never going to get any better. He also uses similes to help show further imagery. An example of this is “drunk with fatigue” showing how young fit men are so tired that they cant even walk strait, and that their bodies that were once fit and strong, are now weak and can barely support their own weight. The imagery that he uses allows us to see how gruesome the war really was, and how it was not just something that was glorious and honorable.  In the second stanza the author continues to use similes to show imagery, he says, “an ecstasy of fumbling”, while ecstasy usually means, an excessive amount of happiness, here it is used  to describe how young me are shocked into trying to run for their lives from “Gas! Gas!”

The overall moral of the poem is fairly up front for the reader. It is that war is not how stories make it sound, it is not honorable and fun and glorious, it is gruesome, deadly, and changes the lives of many young men and women who still had a lot of life and innocence left in front of them, and now all they will have are the memories of death and their friends dying in front of them. The title of the poem and the last line of the poem "dulce et decorum est" it is sweet and right, " Pro patria mori" to die for ones country, is a phrase of propaganda that was used during the war to try to attract young peoples attention to join the war, saying it was honorable to your country.

The speaker of the poem is Wilfred Owen, also the author of the poem. In the first stanza of the poem he is narrating and describing the setting at which war takes place, from the point of view from a soldiers eyes, not the governments. "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!", in this stanza he is speaking to his fellow soldiers, and then goes on the describe how he has to see one of them die, and he could do nothing to help them. In the third stanza he is speaking directly to the government officials, and the people that made the propaganda, "If  in some smothering dreams you too could pace", "If you could hear", "My friend, you would not tell with such high zest", are all quotes that prove that he is speaking to government officials.

The poem represents a model war poem. It expresses the ideas of a soldier in battle and how he feels about the war. He expresses that war does not bring you honor, but rather it brings death and bad memories.