Metaphor in Dulce Decorum Est Essay

Essay on Metaphor

Dulce et Decorum Est

Throughout Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owens used striking language and compelling metaphors to give the reader a realistic view of what the reality is through battle and war. These devices are very powerful when coming to conveying the authors message, and how the reader should feel. This anti-war poem is filled with vivid expression, showing exactly what these soldiers went through and the conditions they were in. With the utilization of these metaphors, it allows added strength to his persuasive diction. Furthermore, the metaphorical language strives to emphasize how graphic war is, not just to the author, but to the reader as well.

Beginning with the first line, metaphors start to peek out right away. Owens uses the line Bent double, like old beggars under sacks/coughing like hags, to describe the troops. This conveys not only are they filled with exhaustion, but they are compared to homeless people, who have not slept in days. They are coughing like a smoker for years, or a bed ridden person who has been ill for weeks. By bringing them down to a beggars level, it gives us a notion of what they look like and how they feel. Several lines later, Owens utters, All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue. He gives us the image of many soldiers dragging their heavy feet through piles of mud almost tripping over themselves. In addition, we now see how these soldiers are completely damaged with weariness, almost describing them as helpless. Thus, this shows how this bleak war has forever changed these fervent soldiers.

Moving on the to the second stanza, the troops are in an ecstasy of fumbling, as they are forced out of their short sleep into the darkness. These soldiers are in such a extreme emotion to put their gas masks on, that their minds are pushing their bodies to move faster. By using this line, Owen is conveying that these men are unaware of what could lie ahead of them. Continuing on to the third stanza, Owen used the word guttering to describe the drowning man. The word guttering is used to describe a candle flickering in a breeze. This is Owens metaphor for the soldiers death, and how his life is on its last legs as his life is about to be blown out. These two metaphors really frame these exact moments in time for the reader, so we may one with the soldiers.