Dulce Et Decorum Est

The poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen takes place during World War I in the midst of an attack. The tone throughout the poem is dreary and dark with no glimpse of hope. The title “Dulce Et Decorum Est” which means “how sweet and fitting it is” is ironic because the war described by Owen isn’t sweet at all. Owen uses images, metaphors, and similes to depict the tragedies of war and to knock down the glamorous notion that people have of war.
The poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” uses strong images to convey the message that war is not all that it is cracked up to be. Throughout the poem, Owen gives us horrifying pictures of war. In the second stanza “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 gas shells dropping softly behind.” This stanza gives us an image of the horrid conditions that the soldiers had to endure. All the soldiers were limp...