Dulce et Decorum Est Poem Analysis Essay Example

Dulce et Decorum Est Poem Analysis Essay Example Dulce et Decorum Est Poem Analysis Paper Dulce et Decorum Est Poem Analysis Paper Essay Topic: Poetry The poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written by Wilfred Owen during World War One. It’s a very anti-war poem and portrays an unseen version of war, the horrible part of it. It was one of the many poems that were not published until after the war as it hardly belonged amongst all the smiling soldiers in the propaganda posters. It centers around the retelling of a gas attack one of the battlefield methods that were common in Owen’s day – and how a soldier didn’t get his helmet on in time. The title ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ is a part of a common phrase that was tossed around a lot during Owens time, which loosely translated into English means, ‘It is sweet and fitting’. The soldier’s death is barely ‘sweet and fitting’ which is why the title is very misleading and ironic. The poem consists of four stanzas. Owen starts the poem by describing the state of the soldiers, again very different than the clean, healthy men in the posters. It seems to the reader that every aspect of the soldiers was damaged – physically, mentally and spiritually. The simile Owen uses ‘†¦like old beggars’ in my opinion is one of the very effective images in the poem. It could be interpreted as the soldiers feeling betrayed, deserted by their own people, put into a battlefield they didn’t sign up for, like the beggars who feel ignored and forgotten, balancing on a thin line between life and death. Two metaphors that caught my eye were ‘Men marched asleep’ and ‘Drunk with fatigue’ which both strongly indicate that the soldiers were on auto-pilot, not in control of their actions, almost like robots or zombies, neither dead or alive. Men marched asleep’ is a metaphorical paradox because you can’t march while you’re asleep, and ‘Drunk with fatigue’ is a metaphor where you can’t literally be drunk with fatigue, but it implies that the soldiers are so tired that they are powerless and weak, relating to the effects of alcohol where the mind is weak and irration al. In the second stanza the poem moves on to describe a gas attack, and the reader is dragged into its midst. The soldiers struggle to get the helmets on, forcing the reader to empathize with the soldiers, so young and sprightly with a long life ahead of them, but fighting to stay alive in a matter of seconds. ‘An ecstasy of fumbling’. This metaphor illustrates to the reader the human instinct to survive, how nothing is more important than fitting the helmet on and the panic and rush of adrenaline the soldier feels. Yet one man, representing the worst of the gas, didn’t get it on in time. Owen tries to relate the gas attack to something people knew and in this case he used the metaphor ‘†¦like a man in fire or lime’. This allows the reader to feel the soldier’s excruciating pain. He clarifies the situation even more by describing the death by gas as drowning in water, an extended metaphor that continues into the third and fourth stanzas. After that with the third stanza, a mere two lines, Owen continues with the metaphor. He turns the attack into a nightmare that haunted him forever after it occurred ‘In all my dreams†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ He could also be using the word ‘dreams’ to indicate that what happened is too harsh for reality, too hard for him to comprehend. He may also feel guilty as he describes himself as ‘helpless’, another reference to drowning, where the observer is in a state of shock and helplessness at first. The three alliterative words at the end of the stanza ‘†¦guttering, choking, drowning’ help the reader understand the metaphor more and empathize with his pain. And the final fourth stanza continues the tale, exposing even more gory details of the attack, its aftermath and its sheer ferocity, again leaving deep impacts on the reader. Owen begins by addressing the reader, inviting him/her into his ‘smothering dreams’ – indicating that the nightmares he had he couldn’t escape and they were suffocating him – and asking them to walk in his shoes ‘†¦behind the wagon we flung him in’, the verb ‘flung’ I think very disturbing, implying that the soldier who had had a whole life ahead of him was just another lifeless body, worthless to them now. And then comes another strong metaphor ‘†¦like a devil’s sick of sin’ which Owen uses to describe the soldier’s dead face. It could suggest that, like a devil realizing his mistakes at the door to hell and wishes to escape it at the last minute, the soldier when at the border between life and death begins to wish he could escape the battlefield and return to his home and to his loved ones. But it is too late. He also uses words that create an unimaginably horrid scene and create a negative atmosphere as a whole: blood, corrupted, obscene, cancer and bitter. One of the best metaphors in the poem includes ‘†¦incurable sores on innocent tongues’, a simple phrase that shows how large the effects of war are, and how eternal they are on the young and innocent. Finally the last four lines in the poem. Owen addresses the reader directly, calling him/her (I’m sticking with a him, if you don’t mind) ‘my friend’, and telling him that if only he would experience what he had, he would never tell the ‘old Lie’ – capitalized L personifies this phrase, as if it was something human, some evil to the point where it is not just words – ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori’ – the completed phrase meaning ‘It is sweet and fitting to die for your country. ’ The completion of the phrase provides a stark contrast between the poem and the impression the title makes. There is nothing sweet and fitting about dying for your country. In an indirect way, Owen is shaming all the ‘liars’ and putting the weight of the death of all innocent soldiers on their shoulders. There is no specific structure to the poem. It starts off in an organized way, representing the seemingly ordered army, marching in lines and separated into regiments and so on. Then it starts to tumble into chaos, into how war really is. Disorder consumes the poem as the pace in stanza two is quickened by the use of short words and exclamation marks. It is also in the present tense, dragging the reader into the action, followed by a two-lined stanza, which is artistically beneficial as it stands out more and has more impact on the reader. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD and so on. Throughout the poem, it is very obvious that Wilfred Owen is anti-war. This has some irony in it as Owen died in combat, fighting for his country. It seems that he is torn between patriotism and the futility of war. And that I guess is how every soldier feels about war. You kill your enemies, not because you’re right and they’re wrong – everyone’s wrong in war. No, you kill them to defend your country, your home. To defend your friends and family. To live free. I loved the poem. The bluntness of it invokes revulsion and hatred towards every aspect of war. I loved how Owen is shoving the truth of war into the faces of the naive population, who don’t know its reality or pretend it’s all fine and dandy. The tone of outrage and disgust with war (and with those who support it) is sustained by the speaker’s invitation to the reader to watch- something the reader clearly is not naturally inclined to do. It’s as if the poet is holding the horror of war up to our faces and making us look. Personally, I share Owen’s confusion. I would defend my country; I would die for it if I had to, because you just can’t sit back and watch people you are connected to some way or another die. But I also think that war is useless, that it’s a never ending cycle of keeping the Earth’s population under control. It affects everyone, few in a good way, most in a bad one. But I believe that like in Pandora’s Box hope came out after everything else did, I think there is still some hope left for the human race, that we aren’t all doomed – yet.

Lion Facts

Lion Facts Lions (Panthera leo) are the largest of all African cats. Once roaming most of Africa, as well as large parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, today they are found in patches in Africa and one population on the Indian subcontinent. They are the second largest cat species in the world, smaller than only the tiger. Fast Facts: Lion Scientific Name: Panthera leoCommon Name: LionBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 5.5–8.5 feet longWeight: 330–550 poundsLifespan: 10–14 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: Groups in Africa, and IndiaPopulation: 23,000–39,000Conservation Status: Vulnerable Description About 73,000 years ago, ancient shifts in the African climate segregated the lions into small groups, and over time characteristics evolved to match the separate environments: some larger, some with larger manes or darker coats. The largest of these was the Barbary lion of North Africa, which measured some 27–30 feet long with a long, serpentine tail of 3.5 feet. Geneticists have identified two subspecies of lion: Panthera leo leo (found in India, North, Central, and West Africa) and P. l. melanochaita (in Eastern and Southern Africa). These lions have coats that range in color from nearly white to tawny yellow, ash brown, ochre, and deep orange-brown. They have a tuft of dark fur at the tip of their tail, are typically about 5.5–8.5 feet long and weigh between 330 and 550 pounds. Male and female lions exhibit sexual dimorphism: Female lions are smaller than males and have a uniformly colored coat of a tawny brown color. Females also lack a mane. Males have a thick, woolly mane of fur that frames their face and covers their neck. Lions closest living relatives are the Jaguars, followed by leopards and tigers. They have two recognized extinct ancestors, the American lion (Panthera atrox) and the cave lion (Panthera fossilis). Aprison Photography/Getty Images Habitat and Range Although they primarily are found in savanna areas, lions can be found everywhere in Africa, except the tropical rainforest and the interior of the Sahara desert. They live in habitats from sea level to the mountain slopes up to 13,700 feet, including Mt. Kilimanjaro. The dry deciduous Gir forest of northwest India contains a lion preserve known as the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. Surrounding the sanctuary is an area inhabited by ethnic Maldharies pastoralists and their livestock. Diet Lions are carnivores, a subgroup of mammals that also includes animals such as bears, dogs, raccoons, mustelids, civets, hyenas, and the aardwolf. Lion prey preference is for medium to large ungulates like gemsbok and other antelopes, buffalo, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeest; however, they will eat almost any animal, from rodents to rhinoceros. They avoid animals with sharp horns (like sable antelope), or animals smart enough to graze in large herds (like elands). Warthogs are smaller than lion typical preferences, but since they are common in the savannas, they are common parts of lion diets. In India, lions eat domestic cattle when available, but mostly consume wild Chital deer. Lions drink water when available, but otherwise, get required moisture from their prey or from plants like tsamma melons in the Kalahari desert. Behavior Lions live in densities between 1.5 to 55 adult animals per 38.6 square miles (1 square kilometer). They are social creatures and live in groups of about four to six adults called prides. Prides typically include two males and three or four females and their offspring; the adults leave the pride to hunt in pairs or singly. Prides in India tend to be smaller in size, with two females. Lions play-fight as a means of honing their hunting skills. When they play-fight, they dont bare their teeth and keep their claws retracted so as to not inflict injury on their partner. Play-fighting is a training and practice exercise, to assist in efficiency in tackling prey and to establish relationships among the pride members. It is during play that lions work out which members of the pride are to chase and corner their quarry and which members of the pride are the ones to go in for a kill. Reproduction and Offspring Lions reproduce sexually. They mate year-round, but breeding usually peaks during the rainy season. Their gestation lasts between 110 and 119 days. A litter usually consists of between one and six lion cubs, the average is between 2–3. Newborn cubs are born weighing between 27–56 ounces.  They are blind and deaf at first: their eyes and ears open within the first two weeks. Lion cubs begin to hunt at 5–6 months and stay with their mothers until they are between 18 months and 3 years. Females reach sexual maturity at 4 years and males at 5 years. Luxy Images/Getty Images Evolutionary History Today there are less than 40,000 lions on our planet, but lions were much more common and widespread in the past: They disappeared from Europe during the first century CE, and from the Middle East and most of Asia by 1950. Modern cats first appeared about 10.8 million years ago. Lions, along with jaguars, leopards, tigers, snow leopards, and clouded leopards, split off from all other cat lineages early in the evolution of the cat family and today form what is known as the Panthera lineage. Lions shared a common ancestor with jaguars which lived about 810,000 years ago. Conservation Status The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies all subspecies of the lion as vulnerable, and in 2013, the ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System in the United States classified P.l. leo as endangered, and P.l. melanochaita  as threatened. Threats Major threats to lions include habitat and prey loss resulting from a growing human population and climate change, as well as invasive species, agricultural effluents, diseases like canine distemper, and human retaliation for lion attacks. Illegal hunting and poaching for medicinal purposes and trophies have also impacted lion populations. Legal sport hunting is considered a useful management tool, providing needed income at sanctuary facilities if it is conducted at a sustainable offtake of about one male lion per 775 square miles. Levels higher than that have been documented in several countries in Africa as detrimental to the overall lion populations. Sources Bauer, H. et al. Panthera leo (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T15951A115130419, 2016Bauer, H., and S. Van Der Merwe. Inventory of Free-Ranging Lions Panthera Leo in Africa. Oryx 38.1 (2004): 26-31. Print.Evans, Sara. When the Last Lion Roars: The Rise and Fall of the King of the Beasts. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.Hayward, Matt W., and Graham I. H. Kerley. Prey Preferences of the Lion (Panthera Leo). Journal of Zoology 267.3 (2005): 309–22. Print.Riggio, Jason, et al. The Size of Savannah Africa: A Lion’s (Panthera Leo) View. Biodiversity and Conservation 22.1 (2013): 17–35. Print.Singh, H.S. The Gir Lion: Panthera Leo-persica: a Natural History, Conservation Status, and Future Prospect. Gujarat, India: Pugmark Qmulus Consortium, 2007.Species Profile for Lion (Panthera leo ssp. leo). ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2016.Species Profile for Lion (Panthera leo ssp. melanochaita). ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2016.