19 pages • 38 minutes read
Wilfred OwenDulce et Decorum est
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1920A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: War Poetry
Content Warning: The section features references to and descriptions of war and its effects on the human body, physical descriptions of the effects of chemical warfare, and discussions of post-traumatic stress disorder.
War poetry that addresses the horrors of war goes back to Homer’s ancient Greek epic The Iliad. However, it was often downplayed by those who wanted poetry to fit the concept summarized by Roman poet Horace, alluded to at the end of “Dulce et Decorum Est.” During the beginning of World War I, several poets wrote work that focused on the honor, heroics, and glory of service. The best of this latter type might be found in the English poet Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” with its famous lines, “If I should die, think only this of me: / That there’s some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England” (Brooke, Rupert. “The Soldier.” 1915. Poetry Foundation. Lines 1-3). The worst might have been similar to Jessie Pope's verse, such as: “Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much-/Yet eagerly shoulders a gun? / Who would much rather come back with a crutch / Than lie low and be out of the fun?” (Pope, Jessie. “Who’s for the Game?” 1915. allpoetry.org. Lines 9-12). It was to Pope that Owen directly responded, although in his revision he widened his focus to include all those who were ignorant of what actual service entailed (See: Further Reading & Resources). The British war poets who saw actual battle, which included Owen and Sassoon, brought the physical and mental traumas of combat to light, directly pushing against their contemporaries’ ideas that war was an admirable game. Owen’s focus on the damage modern weaponry did to the body, and what post-traumatic stress disorder did to the mind, shown in vivid imagery and emotional compassion, heralded a new way to talk about the combatant experience.
Historical Context: World War I
World War I is the setting of “Dulce et Decorum Est” and the war Owen experienced firsthand as a soldier. The war started after the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary in 1914 and became one of the deadliest conflicts in all of human history. This was due in part to technologies and military strategies that were not used prior, which included artillery bombardment, machine guns, the use of tanks, gas attacks, and trench warfare. Men who grew up in the 19th century, transported by horse-drawn carriages, were suddenly faced with highly destructive mechanical instruments of war. Military strategies were so new and erratic that the outcome of any given engagement could not be predicted. Approximately 10 million British soldiers were killed or went missing in action. With men dying in horrible and cruel ways, many wondered what they were fighting for. As Sergeant Edward Dwyer noted of his experience, the troops would often sing, “We’re here because we’re here because we’re here,” to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” over and over, detailing a kind of endlessness and lack of progress (See: Further Reading & Resources). Later, participants often expressed their sense that the violence of war baffled explanation and defied recorded analysis. Several soldiers who served in the war, and many who survived it, were diagnosed with shell shock, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Tremors, confusion, heightened awareness, severe anxiety, and sensitivity to noises were triggered by flashbacks to the war or reminders of the war experience. Owen’s speaker experiences such symptoms in his recurrent dreams, reliving the death of his fellow soldier.
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By Wilfred Owen
