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Dulce Et Decorum Est


The only thing they can do is toss him into a wagon to be hauled off with the rest that were slain. The image of a wagon heaping with dead men who had tried to be brave for their country, and had instead died in vain, is saddening, and almost enraging. This poem contributes so much to the "other" side of war. The side no one wants to think about the reality of it. Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind" summed up the cruelty of war: "The war did come. I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits. I saw men crumple up in agony when I shot them. And now I find myself in a world, which to me is worse than death: a world in which there is no place for me". This sentence is effective in "Gone With the Wind" as a reminder of what the south suffered in the civil war just as the words Owen chose in "Dulce Et Decorum Est" are powerful statements of the reality of war. The fact that one word can add so much to the meaning of to the entire poem shows how the diction of this poem adds greatly to its effectiveness.
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             Likewise, the use of figurative language in this poem also helps to stress the points that are being made. Authors use figurative language to say what they want to more vividly. (Fulwiler and Hayakawa 126) Owens definitely takes advantage of this tool by using strong similes and metaphors. In fact, the first line is a simile describing the troops as being "like old beggars under sacks." (Shrodes et al. 737-738) This not only says that they are tired, but that they are so exhausted they have been brought down to the level of beggars who have not slept in a bed for weeks, not had a hot meal in days, and not forgotten what it felt like for one minute. Owen also compares the victim's face to the devil, but a devil sick of sin: just as the victim is sick of fighting. Even more effective is the metaphor that compares ".vile, incurable sores." (Owen. 737-738) with the haunting memories of war carried by the troops.


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