Dulce Et Decorum Est
...ur minds. Owen uses a lot of similes and metaphors to give us a picture in our mind of the pain the soldiers are going through, “knock kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge.” The poet also uses alliteration in the first stanza, he uses hard sounds like ” knock kneed” which gives a hard sound to the poem and also helps us to realise how the soldiers were walking. In the second stanza of the poem Owen quickens the pace to show a sense of urgency by using exclamation marks first of all and the kind of language he uses also helps us to realise the how quickly the men are trying to wear the gas mask and how they struggle to try to put them on. “An ecstasy of fumbling” with these words we can just imagine how fast the soldiers are struggling to wear the masks. Unfortunately one soldier is too late and cannot wear his mask and Owen gives us a horrific description of the pain the soldier goes through and the effects of the gas “And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…” This shows us how terrible the effects of the gas are and how soldiers feel, Owen has used very realistic and accurate descriptions and the words help us to imagine what is happening. Owen also tells us in this stanza what he sees through his gas mask “through the misty panes and thick green sea, I saw him drowning” This shows us that the soldier is drowning under his own body and the way Owen has described the gas attack as being under a green sea really gives us a clear picture in our mind to what is happening. In the last and most horrifying stanza Owen tells us exactly what is happening to the dying soldier, “Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing his face,” This shows that the soldier who is dying should be given so much respect for fighting for his country is actually being flung into a wagon to count his last moments of life, we realise how much of a rush the other soldiers are in to get everyone away from the front line and back to shelter. Owen gives us more descriptions of the soldier to make us feel the soldier’s pain, “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood come gargling from t...