By: Alex K. David D. Hunter M. Dulce et Decorum Est

Author: Wilfred Owen Born March 18, 1893 in Oswestry, UK. War Poet Volunteered for military service in 1915. In May 1917, he was diagnosed to having shell shock and was sent back to Britain. Wrote Dulce et Decorum Est which translates to “It is honorable to die for one’s country.” Returned back to the front on Sept. 1918.

Wilfred Owen Continued Joined the British Army in WWI. Was KIA 7 days before WWI ended (Nov. 4, 1918). Sassoan finished his works.

Wilfred Owen A lot of his poetic work dealt with irony involving the war.

Modern period 19th Century started to root the new era. Social Darwinism Modernism WWI started Post Modernism Woman's Rights Magic Realism Massive spike in innovation for technology.

Dulce et Decorum Est 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 tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! ! Quick, boys—An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring 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.

TP-CAST The summary of the poem is that most people think when they join the army that they will die an honorable death. The reality is that the deaths were horrible, dying in holes, being gassed, and tortured. In the poem when he and his comrades where traveling, they got ambushed by gas, so most of his allies protected themselves including himself, but the unfortunate ones suffocated right in front of him, which was horrific.

Works cited Elements of Literature. Virginia Edition. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2007. Print. "Wilfred Owen." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2007. Biography in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. "Introduction: Dulce et Decorum Est." EXPLORING Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." EXPLORING Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. MPI. Belleau Wood. Getty Images. 01 Jun. 1918. eLibrary. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.