Dulce et Decorum Est

by Wilfred Owen · 1920 · 1 min de leitura · 28 linhas

Em resumo

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen is a poem about soldiers enduring a gas attack and a speaker rejecting the claim that dying for one’s country is sweet and fitting. It begins with exhausted men trudging through sludge, some without boots, barely able to hear the shells behind them. A sudden warning sends them scrambling to fit their protective helmets. One man fails to escape the gas, and the speaker sees him struggling as though drowning beneath a green sea. The scene returns in the speaker’s dreams. In the final section, the speaker asks an imagined listener to witness the man’s ruined face and damaged lungs, then condemns the patriotic promise of glory offered to eager children.

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 hootsOf gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumblingFitting the clumsy helmets just in time,But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd 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 sightHe plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could paceBehind 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 bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungsBitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

O que significa, linha por linha

Linhas 1 a 8: The soldiers move toward rest in extreme exhaustion. Comparisons to beggars and old women strip away any appearance of military strength. Missing boots, bleeding feet, and dulled senses make their suffering physical and immediate. Even the shells seem distant to men too tired to respond fully.

Linhas 9 a 14: The gas warning abruptly breaks the slow march. Shouted words and frantic movements show the rush to put on protective helmets. One man continues struggling, and the speaker watches through clouded panes. The green-sea comparison turns gas poisoning into an image of drowning, making the man’s helplessness vivid.

Linhas 15 a 16: The attack continues in the speaker’s dreams. The suffering man seems to rush toward him again, still choking and drowning. This brief passage shifts from the battlefield to recurring memory, showing that the speaker cannot leave the experience behind or undo what he witnessed.

Linhas 17 a 24: The speaker asks the listener to imagine following the wagon carrying the stricken man. Images of twisting eyes, a hanging face, and blood rising from damaged lungs force attention onto bodily suffering. The disturbing comparisons make this death seem hideous and undeserved rather than noble or glorious.

Linhas 25 a 28: The speaker directly challenges someone who encourages children to seek wartime glory. He argues that witnessing such suffering would make that encouragement impossible. Calling the Latin claim an old lie rejects the idea that dying for one’s country is sweet and fitting, bringing the poem’s physical details into a clear moral judgment.

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Três perguntas para refletir

How do the opening descriptions of the soldiers challenge expectations of military strength and glory?
What changes when the speaker moves from describing the attack to addressing an imagined listener?
How does the image of drowning connect the gas attack with the speaker’s recurring dreams?

Grátis por 3 meses

200.000+ clássicos. Todos os formatos, grátis para começar.

eBooks e resumos de 15 minutos, além de qualquer livro impresso a preço de custo, também em letra grande.

Comece grátisRenovação anual · Cancele quando quiser

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