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I think I might have read this piece back in middle school or high school. But I am personally very interested in wars. I like watching movies like Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor because they really interest me and I also like to read different books about the war. I like historical fiction type things that are set back in time like the Holocaust. So this poem really appealed to me even though it was about a man being slow killed by poisonous gas. I thought it was interesting that Owen described the man to be drowning in the gas. I guess I can see that because the man was encased in the poisonous gas like he would be in water if he were drowning and how the green color of the gas encased him. To me, that almost seemed like a peaceful way to describe that man’s awful fate. I see drowning as peaceful I would not describe the choking on poisonous gas and having my lungs be burned out and dying due to internal bleeding as exactly being “drowned.” Which also leads me to the title of the poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est, which means that “it is sweet and right.” I don’t get what is sweet and right about a man dying such an awful death. But in the outlook of dying for your country, it could be looked at as sweet and right I guess. In the sense of, what better way is there to die than fighting for your country? I wouldn’t want to die such an awful death, not even for the US. Sorry but no. At the end of the poem it says “the old lie; Dulce et Decorum est”, so does it mean that dying for your country is not as sweet as everyone makes it out to be? Considering it shouldn’t be “sweet and right” for people to die choking on their blood and being chemically burned to death. My “sweet and right” death would be dying in my sleep in my own bed during the night. I think Owen was trying to portray that lie of the old propagandas during the war that urged people to go out and fight for their country because it was “the sweet and right” thing to do when everyone knew the horrifying inevitable deaths those soldiers would face.
I did not look up the meaning of this poem or the Latin words, but I concluded that this is a war story. The writing describes people who are worn out and in bad conditions. The sludge and boots makes me think it is either winter or really muddy. The haunting flares indicate weapons and the coughing indicates smoke in the air from warfare. There are many more indications that the men are at war such as their fatigue and helmets. At the end when it says “pro patria mori”, I know this means ‘for father’ and something else, but I am assuming it has to do with ‘for the father land.’ In the middle of the poem when the author describes the man suffering and uses underwater descriptions, this sounds really horrible and scarring. Since the author spent a large chunk of the poem on this man suffering, it seems like time slows down like in a movie when something really bad and dramatic is happening. I think soldiers at war see their friends die and it is a really hard experience to go through and overcome. This is why a lot of soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder. When I looked up “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” it translates to “it is sweet and fitting to die for your country.” This matches my conclusion that the poem was talking about men fighting for their father land.
I had to read this twice before I was able to understand it better. I'm not a huge fan of history and wars, but reading about the history of the people is very boring to me. However, when it comes to death and killings I can find some interest in that. As odd as that is, I don't feel like I'm alone in that thinking. People get curious about death, like we have talked about in class already. Our curiosity keeps us interested. I'm interested in where this story is taking place. Who are these men? Are they part of the military? What is the background on how these men went through these though times? Within the first seven lines of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" I could imagine these poor, men struggling to walk due to the hard times that had already endured. It was well written to get a good visual of the men. I wasn't two sure what the title of the poem meant so I googled it. It means something along the lines of 'how sweet and honorable it is to die for one's country'. Understanding the title answers a lot of the questions I originally had about the poem. These men were fighting for our country and struggled through hardships no one could really understand. And then 'behind the wagon that we flung him in'. They were not honored for their work in the physical sense. They died a painful and slow death that was unbearable.
This poem is one of the first ones that honestly made a lot of sense to me without having to read through it a hundred times. As you can tell, this poem is about war. It’s very interesting how Owen goes into such detail about everything that is going on, but I believe I know why that is. When you are on the verge of death or you have a traumatic moment in your life, those are the times were you can remember exactly everything that happened without missing a single detail. I think that this is because the memory is just embedded into your brain and will never leave even if you try with all of your might to forget it. I can relate to this because when we talked about this on Tuesday, I made me think of some moments in my life I’d never forget, like when I broke my fingers. I know every detail of it, mainly due to the fact that it was so scary and different than anything that I’ve ever experienced before. Like everyone else, I also looked up the term of the last line of the poem and I agree with it. With all the detail he put into this poem about the bloodied soldiers fighting through the battle without boots or the poor man who was suffering from the poison gas, I don’t think that ”it is sweet and fitting to die for your country.” It sounds painful, awful and frankly, something I wouldn’t sign up for. He painted a mental picture for me, one that I don’t think I’ll even forget. That may be what he is trying to accomplish in this poem: make the reader live how the soldier has to re-live those same moments every day for the rest of his life.
Honestly, I think is the first reading that we have done that I have understood right away. From the first couple lines I could tell that this reading was about war. I found this reading to be quite gruesome. I was able to vividly picture the line where Wilfred states about the man who was gassed, “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. As short as this poem is Wilfred is able to create a very detailed and vivid image of what is going on. I found it ironic that the title of this short story is “Dulce Et Decorum Est” or, “It is sweet and right to die for your country”. Nothing about this poem is sweet; in fact Wilfred makes it sound like a horrible affair with gruesome details about the events. I am not sure exactly what the last line means “The old lie”. It seems to me as if he is saying that despite what everyone believes war is not the great endeavor that everyone joins for. A lot of people join the war for the honor and excitement of it and fail to realize how miserable war and death really are until it is to late. This poem talks about the not so positive aspects of war and the true reality of it. To get people to join the government points out all of the good aspects of joining the war like honoring their country; but purposely leave out the appalling parts like possibly dying a slow and painful death.
I enjoyed reading this poem because it was the first piece we read that I didn’t have to read four or five times or look up a summary. This was an interesting poem for me because I think war stories are very interesting and the detail that was put in to this by Wilfred Owen. The author went into great detail and depth on every action or event that happened. War stories are fascinating to me probably because most of them have a lot of action and aren’t boring. The more action and violence and death there is in a story, the more intrigued people are to learn about it. The way Owen describes every event in such great detail and makes it interesting is amazing. He describes a situation where one of the soldiers disappears under a green sea which is grabbed my attention because I would never think as smoke as a sea. I think that everything was so detailed because it has been said that your life flashes before your eyes when you die or about to die and that time slows down. The fact that the name of the poem basically means it’s sweet and honorable to die for your country appeals to me as well because it is so deceiving. Owen at the end describes Dulce Et Decorum Est as being the old lie which makes sense because there is nothing sweet about war and seeing your friends and comrades die.
I liked this poem for a couple of reasons. First of all, I actually understood it the first time I read it, which doesn't usually happen in this class. Second of all, it made me feel something. The language in this poem was very descriptive, and as a result the picture that the author was trying to paint came across very clearly. It's like I felt everything he was feeling in those moments. It was really sad, hearing about the loss of his friend, and it was made worse by the fact that all they could do about it was fling him into a wagon and stare into his lifeless eyes. The other thing I liked about this poem was the irony that the title created. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" means it is sweet and right to die for your country. Knowing that, and then reading a poem about the gruesome horrors of war, really made this poem beautifully and tragically ironic. At the end of the poem, when the author again says the phrase, you can almost hear the bitterness in his tone, as if he strongly resents whoever originally said that. In some cases, the horrors of war outweigh the honor, and it seems like his is one of those cases.
I think I might have read this piece back in middle school or high school. But I am personally very interested in wars. I like watching movies like Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor because they really interest me and I also like to read different books about the war. I like historical fiction type things that are set back in time like the Holocaust. So this poem really appealed to me even though it was about a man being slow killed by poisonous gas. I thought it was interesting that Owen described the man to be drowning in the gas. I guess I can see that because the man was encased in the poisonous gas like he would be in water if he were drowning and how the green color of the gas encased him. To me, that almost seemed like a peaceful way to describe that man’s awful fate. I see drowning as peaceful I would not describe the choking on poisonous gas and having my lungs be burned out and dying due to internal bleeding as exactly being “drowned.” Which also leads me to the title of the poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est, which means that “it is sweet and right.” I don’t get what is sweet and right about a man dying such an awful death. But in the outlook of dying for your country, it could be looked at as sweet and right I guess. In the sense of, what better way is there to die than fighting for your country? I wouldn’t want to die such an awful death, not even for the US. Sorry but no. At the end of the poem it says “the old lie; Dulce et Decorum est”, so does it mean that dying for your country is not as sweet as everyone makes it out to be? Considering it shouldn’t be “sweet and right” for people to die choking on their blood and being chemically burned to death. My “sweet and right” death would be dying in my sleep in my own bed during the night. I think Owen was trying to portray that lie of the old propagandas during the war that urged people to go out and fight for their country because it was “the sweet and right” thing to do when everyone knew the horrifying inevitable deaths those soldiers would face.
ReplyDeleteI did not look up the meaning of this poem or the Latin words, but I concluded that this is a war story. The writing describes people who are worn out and in bad conditions. The sludge and boots makes me think it is either winter or really muddy. The haunting flares indicate weapons and the coughing indicates smoke in the air from warfare. There are many more indications that the men are at war such as their fatigue and helmets. At the end when it says “pro patria mori”, I know this means ‘for father’ and something else, but I am assuming it has to do with ‘for the father land.’ In the middle of the poem when the author describes the man suffering and uses underwater descriptions, this sounds really horrible and scarring. Since the author spent a large chunk of the poem on this man suffering, it seems like time slows down like in a movie when something really bad and dramatic is happening. I think soldiers at war see their friends die and it is a really hard experience to go through and overcome. This is why a lot of soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder. When I looked up “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” it translates to “it is sweet and fitting to die for your country.” This matches my conclusion that the poem was talking about men fighting for their father land.
ReplyDeleteI had to read this twice before I was able to understand it better. I'm not a huge fan of history and wars, but reading about the history of the people is very boring to me. However, when it comes to death and killings I can find some interest in that. As odd as that is, I don't feel like I'm alone in that thinking. People get curious about death, like we have talked about in class already. Our curiosity keeps us interested. I'm interested in where this story is taking place. Who are these men? Are they part of the military? What is the background on how these men went through these though times? Within the first seven lines of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" I could imagine these poor, men struggling to walk due to the hard times that had already endured. It was well written to get a good visual of the men. I wasn't two sure what the title of the poem meant so I googled it. It means something along the lines of 'how sweet and honorable it is to die for one's country'. Understanding the title answers a lot of the questions I originally had about the poem. These men were fighting for our country and struggled through hardships no one could really understand. And then 'behind the wagon that we flung him in'. They were not honored for their work in the physical sense. They died a painful and slow death that was unbearable.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is one of the first ones that honestly made a lot of sense to me without having to read through it a hundred times. As you can tell, this poem is about war. It’s very interesting how Owen goes into such detail about everything that is going on, but I believe I know why that is. When you are on the verge of death or you have a traumatic moment in your life, those are the times were you can remember exactly everything that happened without missing a single detail. I think that this is because the memory is just embedded into your brain and will never leave even if you try with all of your might to forget it. I can relate to this because when we talked about this on Tuesday, I made me think of some moments in my life I’d never forget, like when I broke my fingers. I know every detail of it, mainly due to the fact that it was so scary and different than anything that I’ve ever experienced before. Like everyone else, I also looked up the term of the last line of the poem and I agree with it. With all the detail he put into this poem about the bloodied soldiers fighting through the battle without boots or the poor man who was suffering from the poison gas, I don’t think that ”it is sweet and fitting to die for your country.” It sounds painful, awful and frankly, something I wouldn’t sign up for. He painted a mental picture for me, one that I don’t think I’ll even forget. That may be what he is trying to accomplish in this poem: make the reader live how the soldier has to re-live those same moments every day for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think is the first reading that we have done that I have understood right away. From the first couple lines I could tell that this reading was about war. I found this reading to be quite gruesome. I was able to vividly picture the line where Wilfred states about the man who was gassed, “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. As short as this poem is Wilfred is able to create a very detailed and vivid image of what is going on. I found it ironic that the title of this short story is “Dulce Et Decorum Est” or, “It is sweet and right to die for your country”. Nothing about this poem is sweet; in fact Wilfred makes it sound like a horrible affair with gruesome details about the events. I am not sure exactly what the last line means “The old lie”. It seems to me as if he is saying that despite what everyone believes war is not the great endeavor that everyone joins for. A lot of people join the war for the honor and excitement of it and fail to realize how miserable war and death really are until it is to late. This poem talks about the not so positive aspects of war and the true reality of it. To get people to join the government points out all of the good aspects of joining the war like honoring their country; but purposely leave out the appalling parts like possibly dying a slow and painful death.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this poem because it was the first piece we read that I didn’t have to read four or five times or look up a summary. This was an interesting poem for me because I think war stories are very interesting and the detail that was put in to this by Wilfred Owen. The author went into great detail and depth on every action or event that happened. War stories are fascinating to me probably because most of them have a lot of action and aren’t boring. The more action and violence and death there is in a story, the more intrigued people are to learn about it. The way Owen describes every event in such great detail and makes it interesting is amazing. He describes a situation where one of the soldiers disappears under a green sea which is grabbed my attention because I would never think as smoke as a sea. I think that everything was so detailed because it has been said that your life flashes before your eyes when you die or about to die and that time slows down. The fact that the name of the poem basically means it’s sweet and honorable to die for your country appeals to me as well because it is so deceiving. Owen at the end describes Dulce Et Decorum Est as being the old lie which makes sense because there is nothing sweet about war and seeing your friends and comrades die.
ReplyDeleteI liked this poem for a couple of reasons. First of all, I actually understood it the first time I read it, which doesn't usually happen in this class. Second of all, it made me feel something. The language in this poem was very descriptive, and as a result the picture that the author was trying to paint came across very clearly. It's like I felt everything he was feeling in those moments. It was really sad, hearing about the loss of his friend, and it was made worse by the fact that all they could do about it was fling him into a wagon and stare into his lifeless eyes. The other thing I liked about this poem was the irony that the title created. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" means it is sweet and right to die for your country. Knowing that, and then reading a poem about the gruesome horrors of war, really made this poem beautifully and tragically ironic. At the end of the poem, when the author again says the phrase, you can almost hear the bitterness in his tone, as if he strongly resents whoever originally said that. In some cases, the horrors of war outweigh the honor, and it seems like his is one of those cases.
ReplyDelete