Thursday, 17 March 2016


Dulce et Decorum Est and The Solider Analysis Coursework

‘The Soldier’, written by Rupert Brooke, is a classic example of an Italian sonnet. Its structure has a total of fourteen lines split into two halves of eight (two stanzas and a sestet) and six lines, it uses iambic pentameter and a fairly regular rhyming scheme. An Italian sonnet is usually associated towards love and romantic poems; in this sense, ‘The Soldier’ is a love poem towards England. The tone throughout this poem is patriotic, and infers that, for a soldier, to die in war for one’s country should be a man’s greatest honour.

The love and patriotism towards England is shown in this poem through the constant repetition of the idea and words “England” and “English”. This repetition gives a sense that England is highly important for the soldiers, and that even though they are abroad in a foreign land, they are always spiritually and physically connected to their country. One example of these soldiers being connected both physically through nature and spiritually can be found in the first stanza; “if I should die, think only this of me: that there is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”. These first few lines suggest that if a soldier is to die in action of war, his English body and Englishness will forever remain buried in that spot of land.

Being English or coming from England is also described to be more important, god like and powerful than other countries is in the following line “in that rich earth a richer dust concealed”. The soldier is imagining himself as physical nature, the dust, and if he should die, the Land where the soldier’s body lay and became dust is considered to be richer than the same land of earth that was there before. Being English is something to be proud of; it is not a duty to go to war and fight for the country, it is a privilege.

The poem has a harmonious, calming and gentle atmosphere that is increased in the second stanza through the image of rivers, streams, flowers and fields. The tone is also very cheerful and upbeat, for example “A body of England’s, breathing English air, washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.”. This imagery refers to the soldier being a true, English man. Him being the body of England suggests that the soldiers mean a lot, as they are representing England. They are very proud of this and honoured to be English. They are literally the body of England. 

England is personified as a mother-like figure, ‘her flowers to love’, ‘her ways to roam’ these phrases are portraying and comparing England to a Mother, who take care and provides for the Soldiers. There is an idea than the soldier’s souls and spirits are cleaned when they dedicate their lives to fight for their country. This type of spiritual imagery can be seen in the phrases ‘washed by the rivers’ and ‘blest by the suns of home’. This imagery of England’s nature and of a mother figure, that provides and supports the soldiers connotes and describes England in a positive manner.





‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is a poem written by Wilfred Owen. Is a negative poem focusing on death and explains the reality of trench life and warfare as gruesome, ugly and violent. This is a contrast from ‘The Soldier’, as it had a positive focus on warfare being a privilege and something the soldiers were happy to be take part in. The Diction and word choices used in Dulce et Decorum Est are discomfiting and painful, words such as stumbling, fumbling, drowning, choking and guttering. Throughout the whole poem there is no sight of a positive tone; it is all violent and negative. The poet Wilfred Owen had actually experienced war for 3 years, therefore Dulce et Decorum Est focuses on the real pain and gruesome, haunting sights that he witnessed and that still haunt him. The diction is a true reflection of the horrors and toughness of war life.

Much of the diction used in this poem is associated with helplessness. There is a global idea that soldiers are mentally tough, physically strong and like machines, they can get through anything. This diction brings the true reality, that war was not easy and even the physically and mentally toughest of people struggled; unlike ‘The Soldier’ which suggests that war was not a pleasant event to be in, it was physically draining and tough, with tough conditions. Not a lovely, calm, heaven-like land that The soldier made it out to be. Another example of this is the first line “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,” this is a simile comparing soldiers who are thought of as strong and tough to be similar to beggars, desperate and helpless. There is a difference in presence of the soldier’s they are not the same during and after war, as they were before the joined.

The idea of helplessness runs throughout the whole poem.  The voice of the poem starts off as “we” and “us”. There is a sense of unity and that the soldiers are along the same tough path, feeling the same exhaustion. The first stanza describes and furthers the physical exhaustion of Owen and his unit as they leave the trenches to the rear. Word phrases such as “blood-shod”, “drunk with fatigue” and “trudge” denote the idea of the extreme physical exhaustion that the soldiers were going through. The phrase “blood-shod” literally explains and illustrates how the soldiers were wearing shoes of blood, they had lost their boots and were continuing to fight regardless of having no shoes, in the futile conditions. The soldiers became physically exhausted, mentally drained and helpless towards their situation. The word choice of “trudge, which means to walk slowly and heavily from extreme exhaustion and or conditions, building on the idea of ‘drunk with fatigue’ allowing the gas shells to drop without them being aware.

The pace of the poem changes matching the panic and pace of the soldiers marching as well as the panic that would ensue with a gas attack happening. The first stanza of the poem sets the scene, mood and movement of the soldiers. As the second stanza begins the pace has an instant change, becoming faster paced. The use of short syntax’s; “Gas!” which is used twice followed with exclamations, used in quick succession and the phrase “quick, boys!” all have no syllables which also contribute to the change in pace. This speeding up of pace is to match the reality of how sudden and quick gas attacks occur and how the soldiers would have to put their gas masks on or they would die. A sense of panic, and pandemonium is created by this sudden change. Wilfred Owen made this change of pace in the second stanza to show and draw in the reader into the sheer panic and pressure that the soldiers felt at this present time, whilst feeling nothing but hopelessness as there was nothing they could do.


Wilfred Owen uses direct address in the fourth stanza to speak to the reader, by using the second person pronoun ‘you’ he is speaking to the British people back home with no experience of the war and to the people who romanticise war, and asks them to experience and feel the horror of war that he once too witnessed. He is asking them to imagine if they too could physically and mentally bare the action of war, as it is not as sweet and honourable as the title expresses, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ meaning it is sweet and honourable and the ending of the poem ‘pro patria mori’, to die for one’s country. This whole idea of the poem is of war being exhausting, violent and painful is contradictory to the title of it being an honour and joy.

To Conclude The Solider by Rupert Brooke and Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, are both war poems discussing the authors different views of how the war is perceived. These 2 poems are similar as both have a sense, and deal with the idea of fighting and dying in war for your country however they are written from the authors perspective of war and this is where the contrast can be noticed. The Soldier is a poem about dying in war for your country and how it is an honour and a great achievement, it is written from a patriot view and idealist point of view, whilst Dulce et Decorum Est has the complete opposite idea, it’s about the harsh reality of war and that dying for your country is not at all honourable; it is violent and brutal and is written in a realist point of view discussing the reality of war and the conditions a soldier had to go through was no heaven.


WORD COUNT: 1487

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