Analysis of Dulce et Decorum Est Essay

The goal of a war story is to make people not only understand it, but to also feel it. War stories are easier to tell people than to write for them to read, because when telling the story an author can emphasize certain parts and make certain words, calls, or demands stick out and become loud and clear. But, when writing a war story, authors are leaving the emphasis and clarity on the reader. An author writes down the story and can only hope that the reader can obtain a vivid image in their head and understand the story with their heart. In Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen, uses sound devices to allow readers to put themselves within the war story. By hearing the sounds and words in their heads, readers can achieve the goal of the war story and finally feel it.

The poem, meaning It is sweet and proper to die for ones country, represents the hardships of war and how soldiers see the tragic events. Because war is so naturally graphic and violent, Wilfred Owen uses sound devices to bring the graphic and violent images to reality. Owens writes, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning. Without the sound devices, the quote would become, He plunges at me. Without the sound devices, the sentence remains bland and could be used when talking about anything. The fact that Owens uses words such as guttering, choking, and drowning, makes one imagine a person choking and gurgling violently fighting for their life. With that image more clearly set in a readers mind they can start to imagine the rest of the scene that falls in to line with war setting.

It is almost impossible to re-tell a story without including words or conversation that occurred. Owen uses this to his advantage and uses his sound devices to make people hear the words being said or heard in their heads. Wilfred Owen writes, Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! letting people imagine the scene, while allowing them to put their own emphasis on the words spoken. This sound device not only allows people to understand the severity of the situation of the gas bombs being dropped, but also allows them to play their own role by imagining a soldier screaming the words. Once a person can imagine in their minds the tone-of-voice the soldier used or the accent they said it in, they can picture the war, and use the words throughout the rest of the poem to set the tone.

A war story is often told, but never truly understood or believed. But, in Dulce et Decorum Est, Owen uses sound devices to not only get people to understand the story but also believe it. The sound devices he use allow readers hear the sounds of war and put themselves in a soldiers position. If a war story is meant to be told from a soldiers perspective, than it has become a successful story until the reader has seen and heard things through the perspective of a soldier. Owen uses sound devices to make sure the reader, at the end, will see through they eyes of and hear through the ears of a soldier.