Dulce et Decorum Est An Emotional Appeal :: essays papers

Dulce et decorum Est An Emotional pullWar b put offs with it countless tragedies. M either of these tragedies only a veteran could in full understand. All too often the ugliness of war is glorified, and even worse, glamorized. In the rime Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen, the glorification of war is sarcastically refuted. Owens anger is eminent, as he graphically describes war in price only a veteran or embattled soldier could comprehend.Dulce et Decorum Est, means It is sweet and becoming to die for ones region(Arp 566). The title is used satirically, which the speaker defines within the very(prenominal) first diction in the poem Bent double, like old beggars under sacks(565). The speaker continues the description of the once young and healthy boys Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we give tongue to through sludge, /Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs(565), if the war zealot was not besides feeling guiltynow would be the time. The sense that illuminat es from these statements is powerful and intense. It is now clear, that one who has lived through war, could not possibly exclaim it. The speaker vividly describes the hell soldiers endure era desperately toilsome to stay alive. Exhausted, injured, and Drunk with fatigue(566), the men go onterrified, yet brave, the men go on. These men are not just a bunch of nameless men going to battle, they have names, and families, and beating hearts. The indite of Perrines Literature Structure, Sound and Sense, Thomas R. Arp, asks the reader to List the elements of the poem that seem no beautiful and therefore unpoetic. Are there any elements of beauty in the poem?(566). Although this is an extremely dark poem, and reveals some very ugly realities, I find it beautiful. It may not be most flowers, and the sun, and the gleaming ocean, but it is beautifully expressedthe way it ought to be. It encourages thinking and feeling, while removing ignorance. The intensity grows as the length of th e poem grows. First, the speaker told of the men, and how they trudged towards distant informality (566). Now, further in the poem he singles out a single man. He also mentions himself as he explains I precept him drowning. He is referring to the one man who could not get his gas robe on in time to prevent death. During this passage, I could not assist but to visualize the one young man who was left floundring, and maintaining dry eyes became near impossible.