 Context: the poem’s shock value has diminished over the Dulce Et Decorum Est—Wilfred Owen years, but at the point of publication this would have chal‐ lenged the ideals of many who believed “pro patria mori” The translation of the Latin "Dulce et Decorum Est" is was noble and honourable. It could be speculated that al‐ "Sweet and fitting it is." The translation of "Pro patria mori" is though this is the reason it keeps its popularity, this dimin‐ "To die for one's country." ishes its effectiveness as a piece. War poems are often sub‐

tle and implicit in meaning (such as Auden’s ‘O What Is Arguably, Owen is fulminating against poets who glorified and That Sound’) whereas Owen’s piece is so explicit that it glamorised warfare. One archetypal example would be Rupert verges on gratuitous. Nonetheless, it must be remembered Brooke’s poem The Soldier. that in context, this piece was as challenging as it was influ‐ Rupert Brooke ential. The Soldier IF I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is forever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, By Jack Palmer and Josh Pymer. A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

In the same year, he left England to travel in North America, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. He returned home shortly before the outbreak of World War One. He was commissioned into the Royal Naval Division and took part in the disastrous Antwerp expedition in October 1914. In February 1915, he set sail for the Darda‐ nelles. On board ship he developed septicaemia from a mosquito bite. He died on 23 April 1915 on a hospital ship off the Greek island of Skyros and was buried in an olive grove on the island. Rupert Brooke caught the optimism of the opening months of the Original war with his wartime poems, published after his death, which ex‐ manuscript of pressed an idealism about war that contrasts strongly with poetry Wilfred Owen’s published later in the conflict, namely Owen and Sassoon’s work. ‘Dulce Et http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ Decorum Est’ brooke_rupert.shtml

Along with Brooke, a poet who was known for their jingoistic mo‐ tivational poems published during World War 1. Owen directed the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ “To Jessie Pope etc”. A later draft amended this “to a certain Poetess” and later was removed entirely, to make the poem a general attack on war. Owen’s initial disdain for Pope came from her warped representation of war‐ fare. Like Brooke, she never went to the frontline, due to the posi‐ Analysis tion of women in society at the time. A quote from her poem “Who’s for the Game?”:  Metre: The first stanza is in sonnet form. The implementa‐ tion of iambic pentameter could show the poet’s sense of “But you’ll come on all right – control (as pentameter is often used to show stability and For there’s only one course to pursue, control in its regularity), which he loses at the start of the Your country is up to her neck in a fight, second stanza and the start of the battle. And she’s looking and calling for you.”  Pace: in the first stanza, there is a proliferation of punctua‐ Another key influence on Owen’s work was that of coeval and tion resulting in fatigued, languid tone, that echoes the lassitude of the soldiers. In the second stanza this changes, friend Sassoon. The two met when being treated for shellshock at as we see the climax of the battle ensue— less punctuation the mental institute Craiglockhart. Before meeting him, Owen’s is employed, but conversely, more exclamation points are work focused on themes such as domesticity, and his message used. Coupled with the flurry of imagery, we see a faster pace. wasn’t as cutting prior to his meeting Sassoon. The influence of  Language: The poem is laden with horrific and startling this poet can be seen in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, as the piece is far imagery such as “white eyes writhing” ;“froth‐corrupted more satirical than his previous work. lungs”; “vile, incurable sores” ‐ it bombards the reader with images to the point that by the end up the poem, they feel numbed to the meaning.