19 pages • 38 minutes read
Wilfred OwenDulce et Decorum est
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1920A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Green Sea
Content Warning: The section features references to and descriptions of war and its effects on the human body, physical descriptions of the effects of chemical warfare, and discussions of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Dim though the misty panes and thick green light / As under a green sea, I saw him drowning” (Lines 13-14) describes the speaker’s vision of his fellow soldier through his operational gas mask. The “green sea” (Line 14) suggests a visual description of the cloud of chlorine gas: expansive and green in color. The greenish hue of the celluloid “panes” (Line 13) of the goggles in the gas mask distort the vision further by making it “[d]im” (Line 13) and blurry. The condensation that occurs inside the gas mask when breathing explains why the lenses are “misty” (Line 13). While this is all realistic description, the references to the sea could have made the audience think of deep-sea diving, especially the diver’s helmet, first invented in 1820. Because the home front audience would be unfamiliar with modern gas masks, Owen’s references to the sea allow them to see the gear—and the deadly situation—in familiar terms. The readers’ understanding of ocean drowning and water’s effect on the lungs might be the best metaphor to enable them to understand how chlorine gas reacts with water in the lungs to create hydrochloric acid. This deteriorates the lining of the lungs, causing the affected person to literally drown. Without this “under a green sea” (Line 14) image, the tragedy of the soldier without the mask wouldn’t be as clear.
Echoes of Physical Injury
In the opening of the poem, the men are described as “lame” (Line 6), “blind” (Line 6), and “[d]runk with fatigue” (Line 7). The tired troops, “[b]ent double” (Line 1) and “coughing” (Line 2) head toward a “distant rest” (Line 4), their feet “blood-shod” (Line 6). While these descriptions offer verisimilitude, they also foreshadow the terrible physical traumas that happen to the soldier who cannot put on his gas mask. His injuries make him “flound[er]” (Line 12) until he, too, is “[b]ent double” (Line 1), as he “stumbl[es]” (Line 11), staggering in a far worse way than people who are “[d]runk” (Line 7). The gas affects his sight, and it’s implied that “the white eyes writhing in his face” (Line 19) are “blind” (Line 6). The poison leaves him “guttering, choking” (Line 16), which is the extreme version of the earlier “coughing” (Line 2). The speaker makes clear that “blood / […] gargl[es]” (Line 22) from the soldier’s mouth, so more than feet are covered in blood. The “distant rest” (Line 4) becomes permanent as the man dies in the “wagon that [they] flung him in” (Line 18). Therefore, while the descriptions are quite negative, they are intensified in their correlating mentions to show the devastating physical effects of the deadly gas attack.
The Fairy Tale Turned Nightmare
There are moments in several fairy tales that quickly turn nightmarish as innocents are terrorized by dark, uncontrollable forces. In “Hansel and Gretel,” for instance, the gingerbread house holds the witch that nearly devours them. In other tales, like “Snow-White and Rose-Red,” a prince is turned into an unrecognizable beast who cannot speak. The language of folklore permeates “Dulce et Decorum Est,” from its falsely sweet title until its bitter end. The soldiers in the story are cursed by war, turned from young men into “old beggars under sacks” (Line 1) and “coughing like hags” (Line 2). The greenery of England has been traded for “sludge” (Line 2) and gas clouds that act like a “green sea” (Line 14), which drowns one of the supposed heroes. The dying man’s horrible death causes the speaker to think the man’s face looks “like a devil’s sick of sin” (Line 20), indicating what has happened is beyond evil and there’s no rescue in sight. Owen’s speaker is clear about who the antagonist is: the “friend” (Line 25) who would tell “[t]he old Lie” (Line 27) to the “children” (Line 26) in their care. He knows they’re putting those “innocent[s]” (Line 24) under a magic spell—the chant from Horace—which lures them into the ovens of war. He acts the true hero, exposes the curse, offering as most fairytales do, an important warning and the hope of the escape.
Related Titles
By Wilfred Owen
