Reading Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, I found it very interesting how he ends the poem with ‘Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’. Searching it up at the back of the book and online, it translates as ‘It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country’, and comes from Horace’s Odes.
Owen describes this sentiment as a ‘Lie’ and the fact that he capitalises this I think makes it even more profound. Maybe he capitalised it for some other reason that I’m not entirely sure about, but I personally read it as being capitalised to emphasise the inaccurate truth and ‘patriotism’ that people back at home would have been fed about the war (not to say that patriotism is a bad thing, but just that maybe during this time it was surrounded and pushed by more lies and less reality?) I think it’s similar to Paul’s narrative in All Quiet on the Western Front, and even Nellie’s when she quits working as an ambulance driver, and of course Borden’s numerous narrations on the medical horrors that we read. All feel, maybe some more than others, that they were unable to say aloud the truth or go against the ‘lies’. By Owen also claiming that it was the ‘children’ who fed into this ‘desperate glory’ makes it more chilling, especially after reading the horrific ways in which these men died (‘his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin’).
198 thoughts on “Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hey Sophia, you hit it right on the head! Sometime last year when I was visiting my grandparents, my grandmother gave me the poem to read. I think we were talking about something historically related at the time, and my grandmother gives me some of her anthologies sometimes since she was an English major like me. I didn’t know about All Quiet on the Western Front or Not So Quiet, but when my grandmother told me what that term meant, I could already see why Owen thought the term was a lie. How is it “sweet and proper to die for one’s country” when millions of men are sent to deplorable conditions to either die, get captured, or go home with PTSD?
I also like your analysis of the “children” and “glory.” Very chilling indeed.
Pingback: buy ciprofloxacin
Pingback: viagra for sale in usa
Pingback: cialis for sale
Pingback: generic viagra 100mg pills erections
Pingback: buy chloroquine phosphate
Pingback: cialis 10mg
Pingback: guaranteed viagra overnight delivery usa
Pingback: buy generic cialis online edsmrl
Pingback: buy generic cialis online
Pingback: order viagra
Pingback: buying viagra online
Pingback: Cialis 20mg prices
Pingback: cheap Cialis 60 mg
Pingback: Cialis 20 mg price
Pingback: generic viagra cost
Pingback: viagra cheap
Pingback: viagra
Pingback: actos 15 mg pharmacy
Pingback: aldactone 25mg without a prescription
Pingback: where to buy amaryl 1 mg
Pingback: cheap amoxicillin 500mg
Pingback: where to buy ampicillin 500mg
Pingback: antivert 25mg nz
Pingback: arava 10mg generic
Pingback: buying viagra ireland
Pingback: strattera 25 mg for sale
Pingback: aricept 10 mg purchase
Pingback: tamoxifen 10 mg online
Pingback: cialis 200mg
Pingback: buy atarax 25mg
Pingback: buy avapro 300mg
Pingback: viagra in dubai deals
Pingback: cialis 20 mg vs 10 mg
Pingback: cost of benicar 40 mg
Pingback: how to purchase Biaxin 500 mg
Pingback: Premarin 0,3 mg usa
Pingback: levitra or cialis
Pingback: sublingual viagra 50mg
Pingback: ceftin 250mg without prescription
Pingback: celebrex 100mg united kingdom
Pingback: celexa 20mg over the counter
Pingback: cephalexin without a prescription
Pingback: cipro tablet
Pingback: claritin 10mg tablets
Pingback: doubleu casino
Pingback: real casinos online no deposit
Pingback: online casino for real cash
Pingback: casino online usa
Pingback: play for real online casino games
Pingback: slot machines
Pingback: online casino real money no deposit
Pingback: online slots for real money
Pingback: car insurance quotes 21
Pingback: erie car insurance quotes group
Pingback: pfizer viagra without prescription
Pingback: car insurance quotes companies in texas
Pingback: car insurance quotes agencies
Pingback: vehicle insurance quotes
Pingback: liberty car insurance quotes
Pingback: best insurance company for home and auto
Pingback: payday payday loans online
Pingback: quick loans colorado
Pingback: fast bad credit loans
Pingback: quick payday loans
Pingback: cbd oil for cancer pain
Pingback: cbd oil for sale in bulk
Pingback: buy generic viagra online
Pingback: cbd oil price at walmart
Pingback: cbd oil for pain control
Pingback: best cbd oil on amazon
Pingback: pfizer branded viagra
Pingback: type writer paper
Pingback: professional research paper writers
Pingback: essay paper writing service
Pingback: website dieses benutzers besuchen
Pingback: college essay writing services
Pingback: essays
Pingback: write my papers
Pingback: cleocin nz
Pingback: clomid prices
Pingback: clonidine tablets
Pingback: colchicine 0,5 mg cheap
Pingback: cialis side effects in men
Pingback: symbicort inhaler 160/4,5 mcg prices
Pingback: cheap combivent
Pingback: coreg 3,12mg tablet
Pingback: order viagra today
Pingback: crestor 5mg otc
Pingback: dapsone caps tablet
Pingback: ddavp nz
Pingback: depakote 125 mg no prescription
Pingback: diamox nz
Pingback: differin united kingdom
Pingback: how to purchase diltiazem 60 mg
Pingback: where can i buy dramamine
Pingback: how to purchase etodolac 300mg
Pingback: garcinia cambogia caps pharmacy
Pingback: how to buy imdur 40mg
Pingback: imitrex 100mg australia
Pingback: imodium united states
Pingback: how to buy imuran
Pingback: how to buy indocin
Pingback: lamisil 250mg without a doctor prescription
Pingback: lopid 300 mg generic
Pingback: macrobid 50mg tablets
Pingback: viagra alternative pills
Pingback: buy meclizine
Pingback: mestinon 60 mg tablet
Pingback: micardis without a prescription
Pingback: mobic usa
Pingback: motrin nz
Pingback: viagra amazon
Pingback: nortriptyline 25 mg price
Pingback: phenergan 25 mg united states
Pingback: prednisolone 40mg without prescription
Pingback: prevacid without a prescription
Pingback: prilosec 20 mg united kingdom
Pingback: proscar 5 mg medication
Pingback: order viagra today
Pingback: how to buy protonix 40mg
Pingback: pulmicort 100 mcg price
Pingback: pyridium 200 mg canada
Pingback: reglan price
Pingback: revatio 20mg pills
Pingback: cost of robaxin
Pingback: cheap rogaine
Pingback: seroquel united states
Pingback: skelaxin 400 mg without prescription
Pingback: tenormin 25mg cost
Pingback: where to buy thorazine
Pingback: toprol 25mg online pharmacy
Pingback: tricor 160 mg usa
Pingback: voltaren cost
Pingback: wellbutrin canada
Pingback: best buy cialis online
Pingback: zocor australia
Pingback: zovirax 400 mg prices
Pingback: buy viagra canadian pharmacy
Pingback: zyloprim 300 mg tablet
Pingback: zyprexa without a prescription
Pingback: zyvox uk
Pingback: sildenafil nz
Pingback: how to buy tadalafil 20mg
Pingback: how to buy furosemide
Pingback: order escitalopram
Pingback: aripiprazole prices
Pingback: where can i buy pioglitazone
Pingback: spironolactone tablet
Pingback: glimepiride 2mg pharmacy
Pingback: meclizine united states
Pingback: leflunomide 10 mg without a doctor prescription
Pingback: where to buy donepezil 10mg
Pingback: dutasteride 0,5 mg uk
Pingback: where can i buy buspirone
Pingback: clonidinemg online pharmacy
Pingback: citalopram 20mg cheap
Pingback: loratadine 10mg price
Pingback: where can i buy clindamycin 150 mg
Pingback: clozapine 50 mg cheap
Pingback: where can i buy prochlorperazine 5 mg
Pingback: carvedilolmg without a prescription
Pingback: warfarin pharmacy
Pingback: divalproex 125 mg united kingdom
Pingback: tolterodine without prescription
Pingback: acetazolamide 250mg no prescription
Pingback: phenytoin 100 mg price
Pingback: oxybutynin australia
Pingback: doxycycline uk
Pingback: bisacodyl 5 mg nz
Pingback: venlafaxine tablet
Pingback: order amitriptyline
Pingback: permethrin 30g cheaporder permethrin
Pingback: erythromycin pills
Pingback: vlbllelc
Pingback: estradiol tablets
Pingback: etodolac 200mg tablet
Pingback: where can i buy tamsulosin 0.4 mg
Pingback: fluticasone 50mcg australia
Pingback: how to purchase alendronate 70mg
Pingback: nitrofurantoin over the counter
Pingback: glipizide australia
Pingback: hydrochlorothiazide no prescription
Pingback: isosorbide united states
Pingback: sumatriptan canada
Pingback: cheap loperamide 2mg
Pingback: azathioprine usa
Pingback: propranolol 40 mg online
Pingback: indomethacin 25 mg for sale
Pingback: lamotrigine canada
Pingback: terbinafine 250 mg price
Pingback: digoxin 0.25 mg uk
Pingback: levofloxacin 250mg online pharmacy
Pingback: levothyroxine mcg without prescription
Pingback: gemfibrozil uk
Pingback: metoprolol nz
Pingback: clotrimazole 10g coupon
Pingback: order hydroxychloroquine from mexico