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 gas-shells dropping softly 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 flound'ring 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
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.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 21, 2023

1:06 min read
29

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGE GE HIHIXJDJXKXK
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,206
Words 220
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 6, 2, 12

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Edward Salter Owen poems | Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Books

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