Dulce Et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Ù The poet was born in 1893 and died in 1918.
Ù The title is taken from a poem of " the Roman poet Horace" which means its sweet and nice to die for the sake if one's country.
Ù In addition, it depends on owns personal experience in order to give a wonderful description of soldiers who suffer and die in wars.
Paraphrase:
First stanza:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
Ù Bent is used as adj. it means they are carved.
Ù The noun" subject" is omitted because it is understood.
Ù Beggars: some persons asking for money, food or shield.
Ù Sacks = loose, thick and dirty clothes.
Ù Hags = old women.
Ù Sludge = They are trying to walk through thick, mad in liquid.
Ù Haunting flares = rockets or shots used in order to make the battle failed light. So, they must walk quickly
Ù Trudge = to walk tiredly toward the resting comp.
Ù L.5 they walk like asleep , they are tired .
Ù Limped = walking slowly painfully and difficulty.
Ù Blood-shed = bleeding.
Ù Lame = unable to walk.
Ù All blind = unable to see around.
Ù Drunk with fatigue = completely exhausted.
Ù Deaf = unable to hear.
Ù Hoots = the sound of gas bombs that fell behind them.
In this part, Wilfred Owen gives us a description of soldiers after a hard day of fighting. Their bodies were not straight but quite carved. They looked like some old beggars, wearing loss, thick and dirty clothes. Also, their legs were not straight but carved inward. They were coughing like old women while they were walking in thick mud mixed with water. At these moments ,the enemy were shooting some rockets in order to make the battle field light .While the soldiers were attempting to reach to their resting camp at a distance, they were walking slowly painfully and even difficulty. Some of them lost their shoes while were bleeding. They were unable to walk, unable to see around, completely exhausted, unable to hear the sound of gas bombs that fell behind them.
Second stanza:
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
Ù Fumbling = a state of being quickly.
Ù Fitting = they were trying to wear the gas' masks.
Ù Helmets = the old name for gas' masks
Ù Yelling = shouting and crying
Ù Stumbling = he is not unable to walk in thick mad.
Ù Floundering = walking like a man in fire of lime.
Ù Lime = calcium.
Ù Dim = his face was completely faint as if he were standing behind foggy glass windows.
Ù Panes = foggy glass windows. Especially if the light inside is green.
Soldiers were shooting ''gas bomb''. It was a very critical situation in which all soldiers must behave quickly and wear their gas's mask in the proper time. Unfortunately, one soldier was not able to wear his mask just in time, he was still crying and struggle in the mud. He was walking like a man walking in fire or lime. His face became completely faint as if he were standing behind a foggy glass window especially if the light inside was green. The speaker himself saw his fellow soldier as if he were dying in the green sea.
Third stanza:
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning
Ù Plunges = throw himself at me.
Ù Guttering = a long tube made of plastic which allows water to pass from roof especially in rainy day.
Ù Drowning = dying
When the soldier was about to die, he threw himself at the speaker; he was guttering but this time the sound of blood coming out from mouth is similar to the sound of water coming out of a gutter. He was suffocating due to lack of air and dying as one person in the green sea.
Why did Wilfred Owen use the word ''dream''?
1- : the person can escape from reality " critical situation" by giving himself completely to a dreams or imagination .
2-: soldier in such critical situation dream by return safe and alive.
Why this word used here ?
Owen probably meant flickering out like a candle or gargling like water draining down a gutter,(( referring to the sounds in the throat of the choking man, or it might be a sound partly like slaughter and partly like gargling sound of blood from lungs similar to the sound of water come out from a guttering suffocate .
Fourth stanza:
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Ù Smothering= foggy
Ù Behind the wagon = military wagon
Ù Flung = throw him
Ù Jolt = sock of his face
Ù Forth =
Ù Bitter = sore
In such a situation ,the soldiers had no time to cry over their fellow soldier, all that they could do at the moment is to catch him and throw him in the wagon. The soldier was dead, his eyes turned white and his face was a changeable due to peem and agly. His face were similar to that man's face who is about to hanged. In addition his face is like the sinful face of the devil when his body shocks. Soldier could hear the sound of blood that came out of his corrupted lungs. It was came out in the shape of foams. The test of blood was sore and bitter like the food brought back from animal's stomach to chew again. In fact it was sore and bitter in sweet tongues. The speaker believes that no one dares say the old lie again to the next generation; nobody dares say it is sweet and right to die for the sake of one's country.
Form:
r This poem is written in an irregular form.
r It is given in 28 lines divided as follows: (8+6+2+12) .
Rhyme:
r Owen uses the rhyme scheme “ab ab cd cd” in the first stanza "8 lines", and in the second "6 lines" and third stanza "2 lines" as a combination "6+2 = 8" , and in the first 8 lines in of the last 12-line stanza. The last 4 lines rhyme as “ef ef”, and it can serve as a conclusion and a moral lesson. So, the rhyme of the last stanza is "ab ab cd cd + ef ef"
r He used perfect masculine rhyme e.g. sacks/backs, sludge/ trudge , boots/hoots, time/ lime, pace/ face
r He used perfect feminine rhyme e.g. fumbling/stumbling drowning/ drowning.
Rhythm:
r There is no beat or rhythm in this poem.
r It is a modern poem in which this style is close to our every day English.
r He uses a prose style.
The language:
1. It is difficult to read and understand.
2. It is a descriptive style. The poem describes some soldiers retreating back to their resting camps after a horrible day of fight. It describes soldiers being, agony and even death. In addition it shows the outcome of gas bomb that results entirely in one fellow soldier's death.
3. Owen is clever enough to choose the proper words to describe the horrible state of the soldiers at the time of war. E.g. haunting flares ,line. 3 Helmets ,line. 10 yelling out, line. 11 guttering, choking, drowning, line .16
4. The style is narrative, the poem narrate a story about the horrors of wars and the soldiers being agony and death.
5. It is characterized by the use of enjambment, any example can be good
e.g. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
6. Excessive modifiers are employed to describe wars and soldiers in such a critical situation e.g. ( Bent, old, hags, haunting, lame, blind, drunk, deaf, clumsy)
7. excessive use of present participle to describe the horrible situation in (coughing, haunting, fumbling, stumbling, guttering, choking, drowning ) etc…
8. it is figurative language, number of figures of speech are used to describe the situation. E.g. simile stanza 1 line 1, in which soldiers backs and bodies are curved like old beggars’ under thick, loose and dirty clothes.
9. It is prose like style, beat or rhythm is similar to beat or rhythm ( that) of spoken English. E.g.
-''Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,'' stanza 1 line 1
-''Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots ' Line. 7 ' -''Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind'' line .8
10. The use of lots of punctuation marks. Commas, dashes, hyphens, semicolons, explanation marks and periods. This is to make the poem little easier to read and conversational to some extent.
11. It is Ironic language. The reader can understand the irony between the truth of what happens in the wars and the lie being told at home.
12. The use of simple inversions in:
'' Till on the haunting flares ST.1, L. 3
''If in some smothering dreams you too could pace'' St.. 4 L. 1
13. Since it is a modern poem some lines are written in the same word order used nowadays e.g.
-'' Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,'' St.1 line5
''But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, ''St.2 line 3 ''And watch the white eyes writhing in his face''. St.4 line 3
14. It is conversational this is quite clear in Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! To make the soldiers alert to gas bombs.
- “My friend” is a noun phrase used in the vocative case .
Tone
The different TONES used by Wilfred Owen:
1-Pitiful tone : the description of the soldiers is full of pity because the soldiers are, bent double, coughing, bleeding, deaf, blind.
2-Furious tone: Wilfred Owen expresses his anger against the brutality of wars. He feels angry against those at home who repeat the old lie through generations. He wants to show that the glory of war is a desperate glory.
3-Tone of a soldier dreaming of going back home safe, sound and alive.
e.g.'' In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,''
4-horrible tone : in this point the soldiers are facing a critical situation , they are struggling in the mud trying to protect themselves from a gas bomb, but one soldier is not able to avoid the killing gas.
5-Sad tone: the poet is speaking in a sad tone when he refers to the moment of his fellow-soldier’s death
e.g. ''I saw him drowning.''
6-Frustrating tone: in this point the soldiers are completely frustrated because the glory of war has proved to be a desperate glory and a big lie.
7-Conversational tone: the poet sometimes addresses his fellow-soldiers in “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys” and sometimes he talks to his readers in “My friend”
8-Discomforting tone: some descriptions given to us in the poem makes us readers discomforted and not at ease e.g. (guttering, choking, drowning, bitter as the cud, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;)
Figure of speech
Owen uses many FIGURES OF SPEECH to make his description vivid:
1-'' Bent double, like old beggars under sacks''
Simile: which soldiers backs and bodies are curved like old beggars’ under thick, loose and dirty clothes.
2- ''Drunk with fatigue ''
Metaphor: in which fatigue is compared to wine which makes the person in non-self control .
3- ''And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.''
Simile: the dying man is likened to a man who is walking in fire and lime.
4- ''guttering
Metaphor The sound of blood coming out of soldier’s mouth is compared to the sound of water coming gutter.
5-'' His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin''
Simile because the soldier’s face I likened to the face of devil full of sins
6-'' His hanging face''
Metaphor in which the soldier’s face is compared to the face of that person who is about to be hanged .
7-'' bitter as the cud''
Simile, the taste of blood in the soldier’s mouth is similar to the taste of food in the animals’ when it brings it back to chew it again, both are sore and bitter.
Images
1- Behind the wagon that we flung him in, There is no time to be sad at him.
2- Men marched asleep, show that soldiers are dreaming to find a way out from the reality they are in.
3- As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. are used in order to describe the soldiers’ suffer and the outcome of the gas attack.
Music:
1- Rhyme scheme .
2- The use of sounds effect :
A) Simple alliteration: bent /beggar , till/turned , toward / trudge , drunk / deaf , disappointed , dropped . st.1
B) Piled alliteration : men /marched /many . st.1/l.5 , but/blood/blind . st.1/l.6 , someone/still/stumbling . st.2/l. 3
C) Crossed alliteration : hags/haunting . st.1/ l.2-3 , lost/lame .st.1/l.5-6 , fumbling/fitting st.2/l.9-10
D) Consonance : knocked /like st.1/l.2 , distance/ rest l.4/st. , blood/shod l.6/st.1 , yelling/ stumbling l.3/st.2
E) Assonance :bent/beggars l.1/st.1 , white /eyes l3/st.4 , but /stumbling l . 3 /st.2
3) Word repetition : gas ,dreams , drowning .
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق