Assignment: The Old Lie
Part 1: “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen
1.) What is this poem describing? Do you think poetry should tackle such grim subjects, or should poets only focus on happier topics? Why?
2.) Find three similes that Owen uses in the poem. Try to pick a simile from the beginning, middle, and end of the poem. For each one that you choose, explain why you think he uses it. What is he trying to convey with the simile?
3.) Using the context of the poem and your knowledge of
English, Spanish, French, etc. do your best to translate the lines “Dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori”.

Part 2: The Old Lie, Updated
What is a lie that you think is commonly told or accepted in modern society? Think of ideas or sayings that are always passed around, but that may not always be true (such as
“There is no place like home” or “love conquers all”).
Your task is to think of one such “lie” and to write a poem about it.
A Few Rules:
1.)
Don’t reveal what the “old lie” is until the end of your poem (as in “Dulce et Decorum Est”). The second to last line of your poem must begin - The old lie: (insert modern lie here!)
2.) The poem should be twelve lines long.
3.) The rhyme scheme must be abab cdcd efef
4.) The poem must be classroom appropriate
(surprise, surprise).
5.) Write the first draft in your “Old Lie”
Assignment
6.) Write the final draft on a piece of computer paper
(neatly) so that it can be posted. Feel free to use markers, and to add illustrations to bring life to your poem!

Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

3.) Why do you think Owen decides to use a phrase such as “An ecstasy of fumbling” rather than just saying “with plenty of fumbling”?