Dulce et Decorum est is a poem about the pain that soldiers go through in the war. The poet is talking about his journey across the battle field when he was in a war and is trying to put across the idea that war is a bad thing and isn't all glorious and honourable.
The poem is in first person where the poet is part of the war; it is a mix of narrative, descriptive and personal beliefs.
At the begging of the first verse, Owen sets the scene by describing how two injured soldiers are helping each other through the battle field. .
"Bent double like old beggars under sacks.".
They are weak and exhausted, comparable to old women. .
"coughing like hags.".
The poet describes the unreasonable expectations of the fighting men, how they lost their boots and had to limp bare-foot through the battle grounds.
"Many had lost their boots, but limped on.".
To start the second verse, a series of short one syllable words with exclamation marks are used, this shows the urgency.
"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!".
This verse is describing some sort of gas attack on the soldiers, they struggle to put on the uncomfortable helmets just in time but someone was too late.
"But someone still was yelling out and stumbling.".
He then goes on to describe the slow, painful and horrific death of that man who never fitted his gas mask.
Verse 3 is two short sentences where the poet expresses how he is haunted by these images of death in all his dreams.
Owen then directs the forth verse to the reader by mentioning the words "you" and "My friend".
"If in some smothering dreams you too could pace".
He continues to describe the disgusting sights he witnessed and uses persuasive writing to make you agree with him.
The language has a tint of "old-fashioned" words and is very descriptive. For almost each "thing" the poet uses an adjective or verb to describe it.
"Blood-shod", "Drunk with fatigue", "An ecstasy of fumbling", "Clumsy helmets", "froth-corrupted lungs".