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  • Essay / The cruel aspects of war in the poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

    When I say "war", we often think of concepts such as militarism, policies, propaganda, cultures, etc. But one thing that we are all aware of, and we must be aware of war, is the horrible consequences and consequences of this disaster. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay There have certainly been thousands and millions of deaths since the war began. But have you ever thought about the survivors who had to suffer the after-effects of war? Soldiers who had to fight on a bloody battlefield, who had to see their comrades sinking into the ground… For them, returning home was not the end of the war. Because they are now suffering from trauma, fears, incessant nightmares for decades. The level of physical and mental disability they endure is simply indescribable. So it is important for us to directly empathize and feel their emotional pain and difficulties. And in doing so, question yourself. Is war really worth sacrificing thousands and millions of innocent beings? The next poem I will analyze is “Dolce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen. The poet Wilfred Owen himself was a World War I soldier and a leading anti-war poet who spoke out against the public perception of war at that time, to truly expose the horrific realities of war. This anti-war poem successfully reveals the cruel aspects of war through the poignant description of the impacts of war on soldiers in particular. One of Owen's masterpieces written during World War I, the poem's title "Dulce et Decorum Est" is a famous phrase from the Roman poet Horace's ode, meaning that "he is sweet and appropriate to die for one’s country.” This phrase was commonly used by the British government during World War I to convince young people to enlist in the army. But today, rather than focusing on aspects of war propaganda, I will analyze how poetic devices and linguistic choices are deliberately used in this poem to particularly describe the physical and mental torment of the soldiers. In the first two lines of the first stanza, the poet's effective use of metaphor and simile is remarkable. The soldiers most likely to be teenagers are described as being "hunched over", "old beggars" and "coughing like witches". Using words that closely resemble the image of an “old man,” the poet clearly denotes the ravaged physical state of the soldiers, showing their illness and exhaustion. The words "Sleeping March" also suggest the extent to which the brutality of the war experience has lulled the soldiers, who are extremely desensitized and appear to sleep while marching. The poet's deliberate choice of "shod in blood" in line 7 is so powerful that it invites us to create an image of soldiers wearing "feet covered in blood" as if they were wearing a pair of leather shoes for protection . But in fact, the only protection they had was the “dried blood” on their feet. The tone of this poem changes suddenly in stanza 2, using the poetic device of repetition. By repeating the same word “gas” twice, the poet clearly captures the terror and sense of confusion of the soldiers who had to face the poison gas attack. The poet further intensifies the tension, through the representation of a soldier who was unable to wear his helmet in time,..