Dulce et Decorum Est An Emotional Appeal :: essays papers

Dulce et Decorum Est An Emotional AppealWar brings with it countless trage give ways. Many of these tragedies completely a veteran could fully understand. All too often the dark of war is glorified, and even worse, glamorized. In the verse Dulce et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen, the nimbus of war is sarcastically refuted. Owens anger is eminent, as he diagrammatically describes war in terms only a veteran or embattled soldier could comprehend.Dulce et Decorum Est, means It is sweet and becoming to die for ones country(Arp 566). The title is used satirically, which the speaker defines deep down the very first phrase in the poem Bent double, worry old beggars under sacks(565). The speaker continues the description of the once four-year-old and well boys Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, /Till on the pertinacious flargons we turned our backs(565), if the war enthusiast was not yet feeling shamednow would be the time. The emotion that illuminates fr om these state manpowerts is powerful and intense. It is now clear, that one who has lived through war, could not possibly glorify it. The speaker vividly describes the hell soldiers bunk while desperately trying to stay alive. Exhausted, injured, and Drunk with fatigue(566), the men go onterrified, yet brave, the men go on. These men are not just a bunch of nameless men button to battle, they have names, and families, and beating hearts. The author of Perrines Literature Structure, Sound and Sense, doubting Thomas R. Arp, asks the reader to List the elements of the poem that seem no beautiful and accordingly unpoetic. Are there any elements of beauty in the poem?(566). Although this is an exceedingly dark poem, and reveals some very ugly realities, I find it beautiful. It may not be about flowers, and the sun, and the gleaming ocean, but it is beautifully utteredthe way it ought to be. It encourages thinking and feeling, while removing ignorance. The intensity grows as the length of the poem grows. First, the speaker told of the men, and how they trudged towards distant rest (566). Now, further in the poem he singles out a single man. He also mentions himself as he explains I saw him drowning. He is referring to the one man who could not get his gas mask on in time to proscribe death. During this passage, I could not help but to visualize the one young man who was left floundring, and maintaining dry eyes became near impossible.