Read the poem below by Wilfred Owen. Respond to it in some way and then make a connection between this poem and All Quiet. DULCE ET DECORUM EST by 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 tired, outstripped Five-Nines 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 flound'ring 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. 8 October 1917 - March, 1918 If you liked this poem, search out other WWI poetry. Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brook are all good places to start. Poetry from this era is very interesting and realistic.
Lit Terms 2
5 years ago
13 comments:
This poem really doesn't sugarcoat the events of war. I like it. I give WWI the name, "War of Firsts", because the first machine guns were used, a new tactic called trench warfare was introduced, tanks and airplanes were also used for the first time, and gas was used on enemies. With all this being said, enemies had to adapt quickly to this or die.
The trench warfare really made things tough on the soldiers. It drug out the war and and soldiers died sometimes not from gun fire, but because of getting sick in the trenches. A soldier would stay in a trench for months or more sometimes with no or little food, and then be forced to fight.
This war was very nasty and gruesome. The poem does a good job on telling it like it really is, and showing the affects on soldiers in this war.
By the way.. the songs are lame:)
-Your boy Robert P.
3rd period.
Just so you know, "Your boy Robert P.", putting a smiley face at the end of a mean statement does not take the sting out of it and repair the hurt in my heart.
This poem was really good in giving us a visual image. It was like All Quiet in the way that it tells about the grusomeness. Another thing was at the beginning of the poem how some of them men losted their boot but, still limped. They had no other choice. It was either they started walking and trying to find shelter or just give up because they losted their boot. It was like All Quiet in when they don't really give up. They just continue to fight on and put effort into it. I agree with Robert on how the enemies had to get used to the situation or die. Last but not least, it tells about how hard and tough the time was for the soldiers in the war.
-Sandy Ha :)
Mrs. Davis it is Caleb Hiddleson and I have already commented on this blog on Saturday, August 22. I forgot to put my name on it and I am anonymous. Sorry for being an idiot.lol I love you Mrs. Davis!! By the way, it is like 4 paragraphs long so I hope I put enough.
Ok I think this poem was quite good. It showed how the men, even when they lost a boot, had to keep going. At this point it was going to be get your boot and be able to walk well and have very high risk of being killed or they could just keep going or they could keep going and not have such high odds agaist servival. I think it gave a good since of how war was it was either see the enemy as a person with family and hesitate and end up being shot , or see them as monsters and protect their own lives.
*Emma* AKA- Little Curtis
hahahahha. ah. mrs. davis. what a joker!
Mrs. Davis,
What I'm writing has no relevance to All Quiet On the Western Front, but I really really miss your class. I can't wait for Holocaust Lit. next semester!
P.S. Your songs aren't lame at all :)
-Your favorite former and soon to be student,
Brooke Miller.
Thank you, Brooke! I am looking forward to Holocaust Lit as well, though I am, as always, a little nervous. :) And I especially appreciate your kindness regarding my songs. I guess that's just something that takes some maturity to appreciate... think so, Robert?
The calling of 'Gaas!' is very reminiscent of All Quiet around pages 68-69. The mental image of people panicking to get their masks on quick enough is pretty scary thought. Gas warfare is probably the nastiest way to go.
Also when it speaks about a boy who inhaled gas in the poem is much like the boy who took his mask off too soon in All Quiet.
This poem, much like All Quiet, has awesome word imagery. You can see people scrambling out in total chaos, bootless and in complete fatigue.
And the strangest thing to me is that all this actually happened. It's true that soldiers ran about in hellish living conditions, dying in ways that are hard to process simply because they're too gruesome for me to register it being real. It's as though it was a living, breathing horror movie.
To sum things up I think it was a great poem; it paints a realistic painting for the reader.
-Yusra Siddiqui
4th block
This poem really shows how gruesome war could get. It kind of tells the author's hatred of war. The man who wrote it died before the war ended, which is kind of sad, because he was a really good poet. It also kind of details how trench warfare could get dangerous, because if there is a gas attack or a charge and someone gets stuck in the trench, the person is as good as dead. One thing I find interesting is how much he uses the "uh" sound, which shows even more of his hatred of death.
Dylan Aikens
Okay so I definetely didn't fully get this poem, but I got most of the poem. I think this poem has alot in common with "All Quiet On The Western Front" because it talks about the boots, and I think that in the book the boots symbolized something, or he wouldn't have wanted them so much. Like in this poem it's saying that even without boots they still went out and fought, which shows that there brave, and don't back down no matter how much pain there in. Which symbolizes bravery, and courage. I also agree with Robert when he said that the soliders needed to get used to being in the war, because they were in there, there is no turning back. This poem also realated to the book because it's telling the war as it really is. The war isn't a walk in the park, like other books, or movies tell it. In this poem it explains how dirty, and bloody, and nasty the war really is. Therefore it relates to the book alot. I also agree with Yusra too, because it's true on what these soldiers did, and it's really amazing because I think if something is impressive, than your going to talk about it. Therefore what soliders did, and are doing now is impressive and brave, and is going to be what people talk about forever. I really liked this poem although I really don't read poems..
**iloveeyouuu mrss.daviiss!(:
-kayyy gee<3
(kayla g.)
My first response to "Dulce Et Decorum Est" was how graphic and
detailed it was. A clear image of the soldiers pain and struggles
definitely comes to mind. Not only is the poem descriptive, but
I easily felt sympathy for the soldiers. The physical pain
described in the poem can surely be compared with All Quiet On
the Western Front. The book gave us many detailed situations of
the gas, shootings, and flares. So the poem associates with
All Quiet with the blood and violence shown in both readings. I feel the poem was quite good with its descriptions of the soldiers injuries as well.
-Rachel Bentley, 3rd Period
Okay, I'm going to try this one more time, because I wrote a comment and tried to publish it and I think the internet just kind of failed. If I have to rewrite this again, I'm going to be very angry. Anyways, here goes.
This poem was rather gruesome. I quite enjoyed it. Anyways, a lot of the imagery reminded me of the most violent chapters in All Quiet on the Western Front, which I believe were chapters 4-6.
The part that goes, " In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning", really puts me in mind of the scene in which Paul has to murder the man who has jumped into his trench. It could just be the words "guttering" and "choking" that remind me of this. I'm not quite sure. Also another part that stood out to me, as far as resemblance to the book was the part about gas and the fumbling to put on their not-always-effective-gas masks.
I also really like the poem itself, it was very well written and full of tons of great imagery.
-Ryanne W.
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