My friend, you would not tell me such high zest/
To children ardent for some desperate glory, /
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking,
drowning
Owen describes how haunting his
dreams are, as the image of the young
boy dying in front of him appears in all of
his dreams.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling
With the use of short abrupt
words, followed by exclamation
marks, signals panic and a sense
of speed. With the words only
having one syllable, this
emphasises the speed.
Using the word ‘ecstasy’, it
creates rush, panic and
adrenaline, which contrast
with the fatigue men of
stanza one.
This is a loud, fast introduction and
contrasts with the pace of stanza one.
deaf even to the sound of hoots /
Of gas-shells dropping softly
behind
Owen has now created an auditory image
(onomatopoeia), with the term “hoots”. When thinking of
hoots you think of loud, short noises repeating
themselves but he quotes “dropping softly” which
clashes with the idea. They are theoretically dropping
loudly but the men have become used to the sound,
they are numb.
This leaves us with an image of
how far they have walked but
reminds us of how far they have
left to go. So by analysing Owen’s
poetic techniques, using
metaphors and a slow pace, we
are once again reminded of his
response.
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks
Using the poetic imagery, he
creates the image of young boys
being hunched, carrying a heavy
burden. In this quotation there
lays a literal image and a
metaphorical image. The boys
are literally carrying a heavy bag
but are metaphorically carrying
the heavy burden of war. This
suggests that the war has broken
them and aged them beyond
their years, leading them to an
early death.
Wilfred Owen creates a simile
by comparing the young boys to
the elderly.
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime
To begin, Wilfred Owen starts a
water motif that is brought up
further into the poem and uses the
verb “flound’ring”. It represents the
image of a fish taken out of water,
which gives us the sense of struggle.
“Like a man on fire” is a simile. The
smoke from the gas in the air is
green and is described by using the
term “lime”.His actions are
suggesting he is moving around as
one would if they were being
burned.
So by considering that this young boy died
in a surprise gas attack at war, instead of
fighting for his country, we see the
emotional response of how fatal his death
was and how the war affected these young
men.