Diction in Dulce Et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth Essay

In Dulce Et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth

In his poems Dulce Et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth, First World War veteran, Wilfred Owen, unveils the true cost of patriotism in war and questions if it is indeed a worthwhile venture for young men, ardent for glory and recognition, to sacrifice their lives in the name of service to their country. He focuses in all these poems on the grim stupidity of war and condemns in no uncertain terms, the argument that war is any indication of patriotism. In this essay, we will focus on a description of the plight of the soldiers as Owens open attack on war.

Derived from the ancient Latin phrase, the first poem is a complete antithesis of its title and last line; Dulce Et Decorum Est/Pro patria mori, meaning that it is noble and becoming to die for your country. The poem however, rejects this maxim by vividly describing the condition of physically poor and decrepit old soldiers ready to die. The weary soldiers are returning from battle and the front liners are gassed unexpectedly by their enemies. The poem records the painful struggle of one of the men, affected by the poisonous gas, as he approaches his inevitable death. Throughout the poem, Owen creates gory, graphic images and uses apt diction to clearly convey the horror and squalor of the war and the soldiers extreme languor and suffering. To end the poem, he simply refutes the old Latin saying he considers a total lie; a fallacy.

The title of the second poem, Anthem for Doomed youth is very deliberately ironic. Anthems are songs of loyalty, devotion and passion usually to lift the spirits of the singers. However, in this case, these songs are not sung for encouragement but to mourn the loss of the lives of young soldiers in battle. The poem is in actual fact a lamentation which questions the caliber of acknowledgement given to these brave ones who die in battle. What passing-bells2 for these who die as cattle? It is on this poignant note that the poem begins. The poet then goes on, in attempt to magnify the idiocy of the war, to present suitable equivalents of elements in a traditional Catholic funeral found on the battlefield. The pallor10 of girls' brows shall be their pall. Finally, on a dramatic note which seems to suggest a reluctant acceptance of the soldiers doomed destiny, the poet brings the poem to a close, And each slow dusk11 a drawing-down of blinds.

In both poems, through the authors diction, there is the element of vivid, true-to life descriptions that allow the reader to picture the scene in his minds eye. In Dulce Et Decorum Est, for instance, Owen employs the use of hyperbolical phrases to paint a lucid picture of the soldiers languor. He describes them first as Bent double suggesting their weak effeminate bodies and compares them to old beggars under sacks. He reveals that they are knock-kneed, coughing like hags. These exaggerations convey the soldiers utter exhaustion and the extreme agony in which they find themselves. The men are said to be marching asleep. This can be compared to sleepwalking and therefore highlights how worn-out the soldiers are, to be walking half asleep. It evokes the image of zombies thus implying that these men have become robot-like and unable to function as normal men should. They also suggest that they are struggling with the weight of their heavy bags and are therefore hunched over almost permanently- just one of the prices they have to pay for patriotism to their nation.

The poet also makes use of first person narrative point of view to lend validity to the poem. Taking on an earnest, sincere and unreserved tone, his use of the progressive tenses indicate that he is reflecting on his personal ordeals. He goes further to personalize certain portions of the poem, thus verifying the fact that he has been scarred permanently by the war and is still haunted by the horrific images of the battle. As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering,11 choking, drowning. Here, the poet recounts the death of a fellow soldier which he has witnessed. He personalizes the experience and therefore makes the poem totality more credible. His use of the first person also makes the poem more dramatic and exciting because we can visualize this painful death of a soldier friend, and his inability to save the victims cries for help. This makes him feel somewhat responsible for his death, an added burden upon a soldiers shoulders to save a friend.

Harnessing the elements of comparison, Owen also uses numerous such comparisons to convey the main message in the poem. The negative, disparaging similes used by the poet reveal the harsh realities of war. The metaphor, Knock-kneed, immediately reveals the weight of the sacks on them, and the simile coughing like hags, shows how even their lungs are destroyed by the gas. He compares his experience of the friends death to Like a man in fire or lime, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin. Here, it is important to reiterate that the comparison of the soldiers coughing to that of hags displays the soldiers depreciating health and hunched physique. Their coughing is also a symbol of sickness and announces loudly the nauseating atmosphere on the battlegrounds. Like a man in a fire or lime describes an innocent, helpless victim being suffocated by a deadly, ever-present gas. To make the gas seem more realistic, Owen likens it to a tangible thing fire or lime. The line His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin, a religious allusion, conveys the image of a sickly, swollen and bleeding face to emphasize the suffering of the afflicted man. Even more importantly, I believe that this injury is exaggerated and some irony has also been injected into the description because the devil is usually associated with sin. Therefore, for him to be described as sick and therefore tired of sin, I am sure it must take a lot of effort from him thus making him feel the symptoms of his abstinence, very sharply, physically. All this evokes empathy and sympathy for these poor men who unknowingly sign themselves onto a slow torturous journey to an inevitable death.

To crown the whole poem, Owen injects irony, almost to the point of sarcasm in the last stanza of the poem calling the very person whose doctrine he is strongly opposing his friend. For the purpose of piquing the curiosity of the reader, he finally slips in the missing piece, in the last line, thus completing the famous saying from Latin poet, Horace; Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria mori meaning, It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country.- an absolutely unmitigated delusion. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13 To children ardent14 for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro patria mori.15

Clearly the description of the physical conditions of the soldiers supports his perception of war that it is fruitless.

Similarly, still expounding on the negative effects of war, Owen, in the poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth, mourns the loss of young lives to war in the name of patriotism. The first line employs the use of similes to conjure up the picture of an abattoir, a place which speaks of mass burials. He decries the absence of respect whatsoever for life and its value. The poet begins with a question, a rhetorical one perhaps, highlighting the inanity of war. What passing-bells2 for these who die as cattle?Personally, I believe that the description of the bells as passing highlights the ignominy of the situation. This is because this description speaks of a brief recognition by virtue of the word passing to describe the bells, which the soldiers are denied. It therefore draws attention to how unappreciated their sacrifice is.

The poet goes on to answer his own question, personifying the weapons of mass destruction which are used to slay the young soldiers. Lending them human characteristics, Owen portrays the guns as evil and explosive. Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle. The spray of bullets seem to be unending as implied by the phrase stuttering rifles rapid rattle and the guns fuming and vengeful. Through this, we see how blood - thirsty their enemies are thereby conveying aptly the lethal conditions under which soldiers live, knowingly, in the name of service to the country.

The second quatrain seems to have been put there to throw more light on the situation in the poem. The shrill, demented6 choirs of shells wailing; And bugles7 calling for them from sad shires. In this part, the poet seems to be making comparisons between the funeral ceremonies conducted on the battlefield and the traditional catholic funerals civilians are usually given. He compares the choirs, prayers and bells which constitute traditional burial services to the ballistic bullets, rifles and bugles in the thick of the war. It is quite ironic and perhaps with dry humour that the bitter poet makes such a comparison to highlight the sorrowful, shameful and undignified way in which the soldiers are buried, invoking in the reader, a feeling of pain and sympathy for the indecorous burials the soldiers are subjected to.

Commencing the next stanza is a rhetorical question to drive home the idiocy of the war. What candles may be held to speed them all? The next line, a response to the question, implies that as opposed to a candle lit to symbolize eternal life at a traditional burial ceremony, all the dead have is the tears of their fellow young men, referred to here as boys, to usher them into the next life. Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes, Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The word glimmer stresses the point that the farewell the deceased ones are receiving is not a thorough one and further creates the visual image of tears glinting in the soldiers eyes up as they bid their comrades farewell.

Then the poet zooms in on the situation in the city, at the homes of the dead soldiers, where peace abounds. The pallor of girls brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds. In a typical Victorian style funeral, an elaborate cloth usually used to cover the coffin is known as a pall. Therefore by comparing it to the pallor of girls' brows, the poet implies that the girls representing all the soldiers loved ones and relatives have ashen, grief stricken faces. This line conjures the image of groups of weeping mourners in sorrow over the horrific death of their loved one and therefore conveys to the reader the fact that the sudden deaths of the soldiers affect not only the army, but also their devastated families a long way off. To add, since the family is helpless from such a distant place, the best they can give by way of wreaths to honour the dead is their patience, reemphasizing the fact that all because of a pointless war, innocent people suffer as well.

It is on a dramatic note that the persona ends the poem. And each slow dusk11 a drawing-down of blinds. The drawing down of blinds causes darkness, signifying finality and a reluctant acceptance of the situation. His use of long ,heavy d sounds make this point clear as he sorrowfully closes the chapter on the issue.

Owens goal in both poems is to create awareness of the absurdity of war and highlight the destruction and misery it leaves in its wake. He succeeds in both cases in doing this marvelously most especially by calling into play a myriad of images and concrete sensory details which appeal to the feelings of all. I believe therefore that these poems by Wilfred Owen are therefore a true reflection of soldiers misery in battle and its effects on society as a whole.