poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I have just finished reading Good Bye to All That by Robert Graves, in which Owen is mentioned. I have always thought of this as THE war poem, and reading it again the dream-like nature of the poem strikes me, to be so ehausted that even something as awful as seeing a man dieing of gas seems dislocated and simply one more nightmare in the endless nightmair the men have been in. Somehow though angry and shocking it is still amazingly beautiful.

It may help to know that the words "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" meaning "It is sweet and fitting to die for your country" is painted on the chapel wall at Sandhurst the college that trained all of the officers in the British army including Wilfred Owen.

George Patton had it right. It is better to make the other poor bastard die for _his_ country.

heartbreaking poem about WW1 of exhausted soliders returning to their barracks and subjected to a gas attack. The young men literally drownded in their own blood in their lungs as this was the effect of the gas on the lungs. Sarcastically Owne has written about Horace, latin poet who says that it is a good ting ro die for one's country! reminiscent now of the marsh arabs that Saddam Hussein gassed in the early 90s. and also what the western countries are thinking of doing as well. not on.

i wonder why this poem isn't banned after the so-called war on terror has begun.. oh, i know why. it's because WE kill in much more pleasant ways!

Well i had to do a school report on this brave man, and his poems really moved me.

Dulce Et decorum est is how the British public and press comforted themselves when sending men to War, "at least they'll die heroic" Wilfred Owen calls this a "lie" He felt more compassion for the enemy than people at home ignoring the War. In this poem he throws the War in the face of the reader by using powerful imagery of the man that doesnt get his mask on in time....very sad, this poem is REAL LIFE.

I feel this poem is a very touching poem, it tells us the hardships of war and the way the soldiers felt when a friend dies. It simes to be that Wilfred Owen had a very open view to the start of the war but that changed towards the middle and end of the war.

I've been studying Owen and his poetry for the past year and it must be noted that he was extremely ANTI-WAR. He wrote from his experiences at the battle front in an attempt to reveal the true horrors of war to the ignorant public back in England who actually believed all the governments bullshit propaganda that they mercilessly used to lure young, unknowing boys into the hell of war.

The message of the poem is pretty obvious but the context in which it is written may not be fully grasped. As a soldier in WWI and in a time when unquestioned allegiance was the norm, this stands as a remarkably brave stance against war in general. He uses a phrase that would have been instantly recognizable, something along the lines of “I pledge allegiance to the flag…” Dissent is never popular and people much prefer national myth over reality. Think of an American soldier today writing a poem that illustrates the death of Iraqi combatants, or shows sympathy to anyone who dies by an American bullet or bomb. During war, the enemy is ALWAYS objectified as an evil villain. Ownes stripped war of its illusionary romance and humanized everyone involved and he would continue to do so today.

The sickening imagery is vivid..especially when he describes the gas as water: "as under a green sea, I saw him drowning", "flound'ring". It's like a nightmare. He compounds sickening detail "guttering, choking, drowning". Its quite vile, and I love how Owen finishes it with the cynical tone..