DULCE ET DECORUM EST It's sweet and right--die for one's country - Essay Example

skillfully and uniquely crafted his language to represent the different actualities that existed on the front while at the same time expressing such horror in terms to buoy an innate sense of patriotism within the audience. Of course one cannot begin to seek to understand the poem in question without first questioning the meaning of its title. Critics widely agree that the title, “DULCE ET DECORUM EST” is taken from an ode by Horace. Taken literally, the expression translates to “It is sweet and right”.

This title in and of itself is odd due to the fact that the subject matter of the poem is so very incongruous with this title. The trauma, pain, suffering, deprivations, hardships, and death that the men at the front lines face is not in keeping with what one might immediately understand by the title of the paper; however, the author goes on to develop this point further as the poem progresses. Although the reader of our current era might not readily identify with the Latin phrase related in this title, the average learned reader of the era in which the poem was penned would likely make the connection due to the fact that Latin was a regular component of early education during the period.

In this way, the reader would not need to consult a dictionary or another source in order to ascertain the meaning of the title prior to reading the poem and understanding its nuanced levels of meaning. The author starts by relating to the reader the unimaginable hardship that the average soldier experiences even with the most simple of soldierly duties. Owens relates, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks/Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge” (Owens 1/2). The reader is quickly introduced to an incongruous world with that which the title might have implored.

Rather than a propaganda piece wherein the soldiers readily accept their mission as ambassadors of their motherland, the reader is greeted with stark images that relate the