Dulce et Decorum Est – Analysis Questions 1. What is the meaning of “dulce et decorum est”? 2. What poetic form is evident in the first half of the poem? What is the purpose and meaning behind these forms? 3. In stanza 1, identify similes used and consider how these construct the image of a solider. How does this challenge the propaganda of the time? 4. What is the significance of the metaphor “haunting flares”? 5. What does the poet mean by “our distant rest”? 6. Identify the onomatopoeia in the first stanza. What sound does it capture? 7. In stanza 1, identify the use of alliteration. What is suggested about the soldier experience through this poetic device? 8. Analyse the use of repetition and punctuation in the second stanza and the alliteration of the ‘f’ and ‘m’ sounds in the second stanza, what ideas about war are evoked from these aural devices? 9. Identify the use of tri-colon at the end of the third stanza. Explain how this may be considered dissonance. 10. Explain why the third stanza is short compared to the rest of the poem. 11. Describe the persona of the poem and the tone that emerges in the second stanza. Who is the persona addressing and what is Owen’s purpose here? 12. The simile “like a devil’s sick with sin” also contains another aural device. What is it and how does it add to the overall meaning of the poem? 13. Explain how sensory imagery is used in the final stanza. What is the purpose and effect of this? 14. What figurative device is present in “froth-corrupted lungs’ and “innocent tongues”? What meaning is created from this construction of language. 15. How is the title of the poem ironic? Consider the use of sonnet and dramatic monologue forms within the poem and capitalisation of “Lie” in the final lines.
