The Key Idea of the Poem

The key idea of the poem

Owen is highly oseppod to the rereicruts who feed young men the csicslaal idea that it is sweet and fitting to die for ones cutnory.

Owen is keen to present the truth about wamrtie conditions on the front line, specifically he writes about the hroorrs of being gassed in a cehmaicl attack. He suggests that death by gas is so horrific and dhusinmeanig that it is in no way nbole or goluoris.

He is unhappy at the miepesesrrnatiton of war as portrayed by the reitmcruent agents, the exponents of proapgadna (Jessie Pope) and to a lesser extent the roanmtics – who often don’t know better (Brooke). (McCrae is a mixture of both these groups)

His is particularly biettr that young men join the war so eagerly without understanding the reality and often falling victim to the messages of glory and patriotism espoused by the propagandists. These messages can flourish in the vuralneble minds of young men who love the classical ideas of warfare a place to earn mahonod ( a rite of passage) and become a hero.

According to an original draft of the poem, ‘you’ on line 17 and ‘My finred’ of line 25 refer to Jessie Pope. Owen was coincnved by Siegfried Sassoon (another famous war poet) to chgane the name to ‘my friend’ to make the message more sutlbe and less pointed.

Notice how he is concerned with the terrible mode of death, as opposed to the bigger picture of what the soldier may have contributed to the war.

How is all this achieved?

Technique / Example / How it works
Ironic use of classical language / Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori = how sweet and fitting to die for ones country / This is ironic because Owen is
Owen cleverly uses this positive Latin phrase from Horace, a Roman poet, as his title. This is cunning because people will read it and expect the poem to be......
Ironic use of classical poetic form / Rhyme scheme
Rhythm scheme
Iambic Pentameter / Sonnet form
......
Give example
Astonishing use of imagery / The techniques below speak of Hell, drowning, death by hanging, death by cancer, death by burning and other excruciatingly painful events.
Techniques below create an image of exhausted, tired poorly equipped soldiers
Name technique
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
..... / Example
Bent double
coughing like hags
haunting flares
blood shod
drunk with fatigue
hoots...
...of tired..Five nines / Unpack each piece of imagery.
Techniques below are used to convey the horror of a gas attack
.....
.....
.....
.....
...... / ecstasy of fumbling
flound’ring like a man in fire or lime..
thick green light +
as under a green sea +
drowning
choking
Techniques below are used to convey unpleasant death by gas attack
.....
.....
.....
..... / watch the white eyes writhing...
hanging face
like a devil’s sick of sin
obscene as cancer / Links the three words together. Why?
Emotive vocabulary
.....
..... / Innocent
zest
The old Lie: / How old?
Why capitalise

Tell me about the next shot

It supports Pope, but also Owen. How?