Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen

He fought in WWI
He was diagnosed with shell shock and sent to Craig Lockhart hospital, he was then sent back to war
He wrote this poem in direct response to Jessie Pope's war propaganda poem, The Call
He died two days before Armistice Day
1. 'Men marched asleep.', the caesura symbolises the end of their life, as not paying attention caused them to die
'old beggars', this could suggest that they're begging for their lives back
It has an alternate line rhyme scheme, which shows the repetitive nature of war, but also how unnatural it is as normally when you respond to someone (Jessie Pope) you don't talk in a rhyme
'devil's sick of sin', the devil wouldn't be fed up of sin, which conveys how unimaginable his face looks
'all my dreams', the superlative all helps to underscore the repeated horror of this dying man in his dreams
There is lots of auditory description using onomatopoeia like 'hoots' and 'gargling', this helps to envisage the view, which is obviously his intention (to show you the horrors of the war)
'The old Lie', lie is capitalised which helps to underscore the power of the word and how horrendous the lie is

Resource summary

	Created by Maddy Christopher about 4 years ago