HengSu

**"Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen (1917)** //Heng Su//

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 disappointed shells that dropped 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 floundering 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, 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.



Way 1: First Impressions
 The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen (1917) gives me a sharp impression upon first reading. Unlike the romantic "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespares, or the patriat "I hear American Singing" by Walt Whitman, this poem has brings me with a negative feeling. Apart from the fact that I cannot figure out the words in the title comes from what country and has what meaning, I feels a great deal of sorrow from reading it, which is quite different from the poems we discussed in the second week.The poem is full of negative words such as "beggar", "blood-shod", and "drowning" (line 1, 6, 14), and present the reader with a picture of clumsiness and anxiety. I suspect this is a poem about the war, or other kind of chaos. The author also mentions the "dream", which may indicate a confuse between the reality and the imaginary world (15). The author also seems in a troop of army, and marching through a place of desolation, and this is indicated by a variety use of verbs.

Way 2: Engaging with the Text
 Taking a look at the format of the poem, it does not have a clean form. This echoes the mess the author has depicted through out this poem. Reading this poem aloud, it fluctuates with rhythm, and mixes with solemn and stirring. The word "blood-shod" combined with "marched" provide evidence that the poem is about the war ( 6,5). A little research on the author indicates he is a officer of the British Army. Instead of filling the poem with patriotism, Oven's depicts a horrifying picture of the battle fields, and arduous life in the army. The battle is time sensitive, so that the soldiers can only "marched asleep" (5). And the soldiers "marched" with difficulty that they take "trudge" through the "sludge" (5, 4, 2). They are so tired that they seem "drunk" (7). This army may be defeat that the sick and wounded consists of "blind“, "lame", "blood-shod" and "deaf" (6, 7), but the war does not stop and they must be "quick" (9). The first stanza depicts a picture of an army of fiasco retreating with a large deal of sick and wounded. This builds the tune of the poem, and determine that the poem will be one full of sorrow and pity.

Vertical Thinking: Close Readings of the Text


Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
 "Dulce et Decorum Est" is a narrative poem by a British Army officer, and is describing the life in the army, and the scenes of the battlefields. The whole poem is divided into 5 different stanzas, and they function in the following pattern: the first stanza is a description of the soldiers, but one cannot tell it is about the soldiers, just someone pitiful and in bad situations. It gives the reader a question: what the author is talking about? The second stanza is a description of the troop. From the wound and sickness, the reader then can figure out the author is writing about the army. The third stanza seems like a battle rush in the army. Connecting the wounded and sick in the second stanza, the reader can feel how cruel the war is: even in bad situation, the soldiers still have to fight. The fourth stanza is very short, and it brings the reader to the narrator's dream: he is not sleeping, but severely wounded that he sees hallucinations. The last stanza returns to a stagnant picture. The author "peacefully“ depicts a horrifying scene of soldiers suffering, which can deeply shock the reader. In conclusion, the poem starts from a static picture of a living solider, and ends with a static picture of a dead soldier. This echoing brings the reader a strong feeling about the war, and reflect how he wants peace.

Way 3: Another Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
 "Dulce et Decorum Est" has rhymes in every stanza, and the whole poem is easy to read with passion. But the rhyme patterns are quite different between stanzas. Apart from the short ones like the first and the fourth, the second stanza has a "abcdcd" pattern, while the third stanza has a "ababcd" pattern. The inverse of the stanza pattern indicates the different paces of these two stanzas: while the second one is the scene of marching, and the third one is a totally a rush. In the last stanza, the rhyme is very close to a sonnet, and the whole atmosphere in this stanza is quite peaceful. But a detailed viewing of the words, the reader may find it is the picture of the dead soldier. The author uses the contrast to emphasize the cruelity of the war, and difficult life in the army.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 4: Unpacking An Instance of Figurative Language
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> In the first line, the author uses "beggars under sacks" to describe the soldier. (1) This is a simile that compares the solders with beggars. The author uses the word "like" to indicate this comparison. (1) From our common sense, beggars are people who live by begging, or who is penniless. Here, the author compares the soldiers to beggars. He does not mean the soldiers have no money, but mean they are in extremely poor conditions. In the battle, it is easy to lose even life, so what do these soldiers have now? Almost nothing. Sacks are bags, and for beggars, they are used to carry what they pick up along the road. Soldiers also have bags. They carry gunpowder as well as living necessities in the bags. This sentence makes a picture of a troop of army, with each soldier carrying a poor marching sack, heads towards the battlefield. They are in extremely poor conditions, and there are sicks and wounded all around. The opening simile indicates this poem will focus on the cruelty of war, and hardness of army life.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> In line 14, the author writes "green sea" and "drowning." A sea cannot be green unless it is full of green plants and in a state of eutrophication. But this poem is about the army, so we can think that, the "green sea" is a metaphor for the forests. (14) It seems this metaphor does not contribute to the overall understanding of this poem, but when you see the word "drowning<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> ", you will suddenly realize that, they should be taken as a whole. (14) The metaphor of the forest to green sea only catches the physical impression of the forests: boundless. With a look at the forest, one can see the trees are waving in the wind, just like the wave on the surface of the sea. It gives a direct impression of how vast the jungle is, but at this point, it seems only a scenery depiction. Then the author goes on by saying "I saw him drowning." (14) How can one drowns in the jungle? But with the former metaphor, this word is easier to understand: drowning means choking under the water. While the author writes "choking" in line 16, this previous line uses a more vivid expression to suggest how the soldiers feel marching in the jungle. Maybe they are not afraid to encounter any wild life. They are afraid to be attacked and killed. These two metaphors create a stuffy atmosphere around this troop of army, and correctly grasps the tension of the war.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 5: Analyzing the Setting
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen (1917) is about the war and life in the army, so the story takes place in the battlefield. Here I say battlefield does not mean it is the place that the battle is taking place. It is the place that related to war. The focus of this poem is on the soldier, so only a small part does the author refer to the settings. "dim", "misty" and "thick" in line 13 indicates they are marching in the fog, or something sightless, while the next line, the author uses "green sea" to compare the forest, which shows the place they are in. (14) The first part of this poem happens in a forest. Even the author does not contribute many lines to the settings, through a few words in line 13 and 14, and mix them with the depiction of soldiers, we can feel they are in extremely bad conditions. Forest is a usual military place. The trees can form shades, and the army can be protected. But at the same time, during the war, if a troop of army has to evade into the forest, it means they have lost a battle and has been severely damaged. It shows the cruelty of war and harsh life in the army. The latter part of the poem happens in the "dream". (17) The author does not say anything about the environment of the dream, but the dream itself creates a harmonious atmosphere-peaceful and quiet.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing Point of View
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The poem is written in first person point of view, in which the story is observed through the eyes of the author with himself participated. The author's use of "we" in line 3 is a suggestion of the point of view of this poem. By using a first person point of view, the poem seems more touchy and real to the reader. I am not sure if this is the true story about the author, since he is an officer in the army, but the reader observe everything from his eyes, which makes as if the story is happening in front. "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!" (9) It seems as if the reader can here the sound. Even the lack of objectivity is a big disadvantage to the first person point of view, this poem successfully depicts the reality of the war and shows its cruelty as well as the hard life in the army. If it were to be written in third person point of view, the involvement of the reader derived from the involvement of the author is lost, which will make the story less touchy and less believable. The reader can feel a strong passion in the poem, and that's the contribution of the first person point of view.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, & Difficulty
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The poem's title "Dulce et Decorum Est" is hard for me before any research. I kept reading the poem without referring to any outside sources, but could not help to look up the dictionary to see what the sentence means. From the research, I found the words were Latin, and means "it is sweet and right". A further note in the definition says, this sentence is very popular during World War I. So the ambiguity, or more precisely, contrast to me, is that, while the title says "it is sweet and right", but the body of the poem does no show anything "sweet and right" during the war. This contrast is deliberately used by the author to emphasize what is written in the poem: the hell of the war. Actually, this poem, without noticing what the title means, is straight and direct. It is full of negative words like "helpless" and "desperate", which shows it has a unique theme of the cruelty of the war and hardship in the army. (15, 26) Apart from the difficulty with the title, the last stanza seems inconsistent with the rest ones. It seems the author is telling the story about the war to the children with smile, which inconsistent with the overall atmosphere of the poem. Also "he" in line 16 has no reference to. It is one key to unpack the last stanza.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">Horizontal Thinking: Connecting the Text to Wider Contexts
===<span style="text-align: center; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Way 8: Considering Canonicity === <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> This poem should be included in the canon based on its rich source of aesthetic and culture. First of all, this poem is very close to the life of the author, when the world was in a total war. This poem reflects in life in the army, and the life in the war, and should be considered a precious source of the depiction of army life. With first person perspective of view, this poem vividly reflects the pressure in the war, and the cruel life in the army, and is a wonderful piece about World War I. Then, for its aesthetic value, this poem uses abundent figurative languages, and shows skillful mastering of rhythms. This poem can be made into a song because the flow of words is so beautiful and the scheme of rhythms is so natural and respondent to the readers. The division of stanzas makes sense to the reader, because each stanza depicts one picture. The poem has a fluctuation of pace: from slow to critical, and then come to tranquil. This is like the World War I itself: the world starts in peace, but suddenly burst into guns and powders, and then finally come back to peace at the cost of millions of lives. The poem is also rich in figurative language, which reflects the aesthetic value it stores. Overall, this poem is a real life reflection of the life in the army during World War I, and flows in beautifully and skillfully written poetic language, which reaches a goal of critics and documentation. Its aesthetic value as well as rich cultural element makes it deserve the inclusion in the canon.

<span style="text-align: left; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 9: Biographical Context
<span style="text-align: left; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The author Wilfred Owen was an officer in the British Army during the World War I, so this poem is a reflection of his own experience. He has participated in the trench and gas warfare, so on the 9th line, he wrote:"<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling." It is clear this poem is about the gas warfare. He had been in good friendship with Sigfried Sassoon, who is a famous poet during Owen's period. His work has been influenced by Sassoon a lot, and he has written poems in an anti-war position. Wilfred Owen has received a standard education in England and started his war service as early as 1915 in a training corp. So he is the person that can write a poem about war with compassion and make it sounds real. The title "<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Dulce et Decorum Est" was popular during World War I. So my assumption that Owen had some other Latin exposure during his early life cannot hold.

<span style="text-align: left; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> It is interesting to note that the author was an officer during World War I, and the title "Dulce et Decorum Est", which comes from a poem of Horace, and means "how sweet and fitting it is." According to Wikipedia, the whole sentence is "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori", which means "how sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country". Another historical context indicates this Latin expression is popular during World War I, when the soldiers were recruited and marched for the battle. But it seems an irony to Owen, as well as to us. How can one imagine the killing and death to be "sweet“ and "fitting"? The author used this expression as the title, as well as the concluding words, showing the passion of the soldiers to fight for the country when recruited, but only to find the war means nothing but death and horrifying. Also, according to Kawowski, Owen fought for the better life for the boys by being a good leader. (312) So "boys" appears in line 8, indicating he is the leader of this army consists of boys. Kawowski also pointed out that Owen had rich battle experience and participated lots of battles, and kept a habit of writting about it. (312) This source showed that this poem is truly a narration of the experience of Owen, and no wonder he can bring it to us so vividly.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 11: Theoretical Application
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Psychoanalytic criticism tends to find the connection of negative words to childhood experience, as well as the true presence of one's conscience in the article. Since this poem is about the war, so the negative images are everywhere and come directly from the cruelty of the war and the harsh life in the army. Clearly, one should notice the last stanza is quite different from the rest. It seems like a dream, and the author seems to transfer to a state of unconsciousness. So a psychoanalytic criticism may ask the question: what is present in the last stanza: id, ego, or superego? According to Freud's definition, ego means "I", and is the "conscientious mind"; id means "the source of our primal instincts and libido", which is the mind buried under the "I". (Brown and Yarbrough, 215) The last stanza starts with an indication that this is the "dream" but turned to the depiction of the wounded soldier. In the narrator's unconscientious dream, he sees what is present in front of his eyes a few moment ago. This is a transmission between "id" and "ego". The author goes on to say to "friend", and the following image is probably something the narrator had experienced: once he was ambitious and energetic, or even excited about fighting in the war, someone told him that :"<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;">Dulce et decorum est, Pro patria mori." (line 27, 28) He recalls this memory in the dream, and come to the state of a mixture of "id" and "ego": the world is present in front of him, but he can hardly accept it.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 12: Another Theoretical Application
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Feminism criticism tends to find connections to women. But in this poem, there is no women present. Another name for feminism criticism is gender criticism, which means focusing on both genders, not only female. Since the poem has no female present, from this approach, one possible question may be, why there is no female characters present? Now come back to the theme of the poem. It sh ows the cruelty of the war as well as the harsh life in the army. Because the soldiers are constituted largely by male, so the absence of any female image is not very strange. But another point to note is that this poem is quite critical: it moves very fast as the soldiers marching in the jungle, and contains lots of negative images such as "beggar", "blood-shod", "blind", "drunk", "cancer" and a lot more. (1, 6, 7, 23) Normally, female stands for softness and tenderness, and any inclusion of female images does not comply with the bloody pictures of the war and especially for a troop of army with a large amount of wounded and sicks. The author's intention is not to show a male heroism. Instead, he once thought of "glory", but when everything comes real and so cruel, he hates them deeply. (26)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Way 13: Unifying Interpretation
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> After all, Welfred Owen's "Dulce et decorum est" is worth reading. It is a direct reflection of the history of World War I, and it is about the battle the author participated and observed. As an officer in the army, Owen is not so energetic about fight. He uses an irony, which is also the title and concluding words of the poem, a Latin expression which is famous during WWI meaning that "it is sweet and fitting to fight for one's country", which he thinks is a "lie." (line 27) The author uses skillful language to depict to scene in the war, and picks the story of a marching army with wounded and sicks to show two aspects of war: the cruelty on the battlefield, and the harsh life in the army. It depicts an incident during marching: gas eruption, and vividly presents the shot during their escape. Even figurative languages are not so rich as typical Shakespeare sonnet, its use of concise and precise languages to show the life in the war makes it aesthetic rich. The author does not want to fight, but pushed to. He transferred from the state of conscientiousness and unconscientiousness in the last stanza, which is the most magnificant part. Even a little bit horrifying, the author shows the real image inside his dream, which raises the theme of anti-war, and thurst for peace. The overall evaluation of this poem is very high, based on its aesthetic and historical value, thus is a good one to be included in the canon.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Works Cited and Consulted
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Brown, James S., and Scott D. Yarbrough. __A Practical Introduction to Literary Study__: Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.

__Dulce et Decorum Est__.Wikipedia. 24 July 2009 <[]>.

Knight, John. "WILFRED OWEN WITHOUT THE MYTHS." __Contemporary Review__ 282.1648 (May 2003): 312. __Academic Search Premier__. EBSCO. 24 July 2009 <[]>.