Dulce et decorum Est

(i) How do sound devices and imagery in the poem contribute to the mood and increasing tension in the poem?

Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through compelling imagery, sound devices like alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia, the mood and increasing tension of the poem is mightily expressed. He uses vivid and graphic imagery to give the reader the exact feeling that he wanted. In the first stanza the pace is very slow and a painstaking rhythm is established through Owen’s use of heavy, long words. This illustrates how painstaking and slow the war was.
The first clause ‘Bent double,’ is a hyperbole which creates the impression of extreme exhaustion and the image that is conveyed is that the soldiers are in excruciating agony. It underlines the fact that they are physically fatigued. ‘Li...