Analysis of Dulce Et Docrum Est

Write an account of this poem in continuous prose, showing how the techniques used create the effects that led to your interpretation of the meaning of the poem.

This essay will discuss how in Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et decorum Est’,
the techniques of ‘end rhyme, alteration, meter and graphic
imagery’ were used to create the effects of ‘unease, distortion and horror’ lead to the resentment
of ‘the old lie’ and Owen’s anti-War sentiment.

One of the technique’s used in Owen’s poem was ‘end rhyme’ as shown by the examples
‘blood/cud’   and ‘lungs/tongues   this is featured throughout the entire
Poem. This served two purposes. As firstly the poem is easily identifiable as a poem, meaning that
the familiar ‘rhyming scheme’ is recognizable to most who read it, thus making it more assessable.
Another way Owen’s does this is through the use of Latin in the title and last lines of the poem,
which shows the importance of these lines. His contemporaries would have understood the ‘tag’
and thus made his work more assessable to
the reader. Thus spreading his criticism of ‘The old lie’.   The ‘end rhyme’ also creates a
sense of order and structure. Like the soldiers described in the poem, the audience expects the
familiar (what they have been told) and is horrified to discover the reality, in which Owen’s
achieves his goal.
In addition, the juxtaposition of the ‘end rhymes’ structure against Owen’s use
of ‘alteration’ helps to convey a sense of unease, the harsh K sounds of ‘Knocked-kneed’
which emulates the sound of rifles firing which intensifies the apprehension. Also the contrasting
soft sounding W of ‘And watched the white eyes writhing in his face’   Owen’s distorts
reality further by using soft sounds to contrast with image of the dead soldiers face which evokes
unease and horror in the reader.
Another way in which Owen’s use the guise of structure is in the
‘metre’, Or lack of ‘metre’, as this essay will go on to
discuss. As explained...