critical essay on 'Dulce Et Decorm Est'.
... It also informs me that the ordinary soldier was treated like an animal because of the word “shod”. This word relates to the term used when we have put shoes on horses, we say they have been shod. The rhythm of the stanza is slow which he achieves very effectively by his use of full stops and commas creating short phrases and sentences and breaking it up which gives it a much more powerful message for me. He speeds the second stanza up by his use of “Gas! Gas! Quick boys” which are short, sharp words. The repetition of the word “Gas” emphasizes the danger the soldiers were in and gives the impression that the soldiers were so tired and battle weary they needed to hear it twice for it to penetrate their befuddled minds. The feelings conveyed here are: panic, desperation and helplessness. When you hear the words “Gas! Gas!” you have to be quick in putting on your gasmask or you will not survive. His use of the word “fumbling” reinforces the tiredness of the men. He gently introduces the reader to the suffering of those who do not manage to put on their gasmask in time by the use of the simile “Floundering like a man in fire or lime”. The picture in my mind when I read this was that of a fish caught and landed by a fisherman, struggling to breathe out of the water. In this simile he alludes to the pain suffered by the victim in his use of the words “fire” and “lime” from these words I gained the impression that the gas would cause a burning sensation both on the skin and in the throat. Phosgene gas was coloured green to make it visible. The imagery he uses of the sea to represent the gas is really effective and appropriate which make it memorable because the gas produces symptoms in its victims similar to that of drowning but on dry land. The phrases “misty panes” and “thick green light” tell me that it was hot in the gasmask making the wearer sweat and cloud up the visor as if he was a diver and the light from above was penetrating the sea making it possible for him to see what was happening but unable to help. Separating the next two lines to form another stanza is a good way of making the reader appreciate that for Wilfred Owen war is a living nightmare. The onomatopoeic words “Guttering” and “choking” really show that the life of the victim is like a candle being snuffed out but also represents the sounds made by him as he struggles to get air into his damaged lungs. I really could relate to what the victim was suffering having gone through a simulated gas attack in the Royal Air Force. Here he also shows you that he too was a victim but in a different way. There was nothing he could do to help no matter how much he wanted to. He felt guilty in being alive. “In all my dreams” shows us that it was a recurring nightmare and nothing he could do could change it or what happened to his friends or colleagues. In the last stanza he really puts his point across to me by telling me in grim detail what happened to the gas victims. He illustrates it with the phrase “we flung him in”. This sho...