by: Wilfred Owen
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.
5 comments:
The speaker here talks about nurturing the children on the love of their country and they used to memorize " how beautiful is to die for the sake of our country!" but he says that to talk about something is different from facing it. When Europe talks about the war, people are very excited but when they are involved in a war they regret that they take part in it.
The poem is written with horrific imagery. Owen uses conceit to intensity the horror of the gas attack which overtakes the men marching to rest. The tittle is taken from Odes,III,II by the Roman Poet Horace which means: (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country).
The phrase was commonly carved in marble on British war memorials. The juxtaposition of the old motto that it is fine and noble to die for one's country with the sickening account of twist of irony.
''the poem is written with horrific imagery'' that's right Fidaa. Since it is a description of war nights, then it is not surprising if one who reads it feel depressed and infuriated.
However, one can notice that the poet himself wanted to conduct satire atmosphere and type of mock on the term patriotism. he is not convinced of such term because of the unbalanced values between the final results of the war and the term itself. In other word he seemingly asks '' what is the benefit from dying for our country?
owen seems that he had experienced the first world war which is so severe, and so the horrible memories of it follows hime in every time even in his dream, he describes the state of the soldiers and the caualities how they trudging.owen showes us a group ghostly images especially in the last stanza. the poem ends with the big old lie it is sweet and meet to die for one's country (as wallaa mentioned) they were eager to fight in the war but to be in the spot indicates the true heroes so that is the point.
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