Starter: What can you remember about the Wilfred Owen poem

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Starter What can you remember about the
Wilfred Owen poem Dulce et Decorum est? (3
sentences min)Share and feedback

• Listen to the poem
• Make a list of words that stand out to you
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v9mc_2j56plA

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Wilfred Owen

• Born 1893
• Died November 4th, 1918
• Killed in action, just a week before war ended.
• News of his death reached his mother just as the
  towns church bells were ringing for victory at
  the end of the war.
• One of the wars most famous poets for speaking
  out against the death and destruction it brought.

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The title- Dulce et Decorum Est

• Taken from a Latin saying meaning It is sweet
  and right (to die for your country)- in other
  words, it is a wonderful and great honour to die
  for your country.
• This was widely quoted at the beginning of the
  war and poems like Popes Whos for the Game
  reflected this idea.

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Is this sweet? Is this right? Is this fitting?

• With mustard gas the effects did not become
  apparent for up to twelve hours. But then it
  began to rot the body, within and without.
• The skin blistered, the eyes became extremely
  painful and nausea and vomiting began.
• Worse, the gas attacked the bronchial tubes,
  stripping off the mucus membrane.
• The pain was almost beyond endurance and most
  victims had to be strapped to their beds.
• Death took up to four or five weeks.

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• Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
• Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we curse 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 blind
• Drunk with fatigue deaf even to the hoots
• Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped
  behind.

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Activity 1(5 mins)

• Owen uses lots of powerful imagery and similes to
  describe the soldiers.
• Find 3 examples of this and explain the effect
  these might have on the reader.

Effect - Sample sentence Feelings of pity are
evoked in the reader as they imagine the
suffering, weariness and despair as the soldiers
cursed through sludge, and limped back to
their base.
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(No Transcript)
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Activity 2 Effect/impact

1. What is the impact of Gas! Gas! Quick boys!
2. Owen describes the soldiers putting their gas
   masks on as an ecstasy of fumbling. Why does he
   use the word ecstasy?

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Sample answer www.ebi

• The most interesting example of dramatic use of
  language occurs in the description of the gas
  attack. POINT
• The panic of the men is captured in the order
  Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! The use of the word
  ecstasy to describe the fumbling to fit the
  masks in time is both interesting and terrifying.
  We dont usually associate ecstasy with such
  horror. The language engages the senses in a
  powerful way. We see the unfortunate mans
  hanging face, like a devil sick of sin. We hear
  his howls of pain and the gargling of blood in
  his throat as he chokes to death. We almost feel
  the jolting of the wagon and the violence of his
  body being flung into it. The use of language
  throughout this poem is not only interesting, it
  is memorable and disturbing. It forces us to
  confront the reality that war is far from being
  sweet and honourable.

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• But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
• And floundring 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.

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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 devils 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,
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Activity 4 Discussion bullet point feedback

• Why does Owen describe his dreams as
  smothering?
• What is the impact of using the word flung?
• This is a description of a man after a gas
  attack, as his lungs are slowly eaten away. Which
  ugly words and comparisons describe this?
• Who do you think Owen is addressing here when he
  says If you could hear?

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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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Activity 5

• What is the tone of these final lines?
• How do you feel about this poem and what do you
  think its final message is?

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Final revision points

• The following slides will contain points that can
  be used to aid the development of an essay
• You will need to find quotations to support
• Remember the most important thing is to develop
  your opinion of the poem
• TWIST it
• Theme, words, imagery, structure, tone

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Powerful thoughts and feelings

• Opens with a feeling of weariness and despair
• Thought war breaks people
• No soldier ever escapes memory
• Feelings of fear, grief and anger
• Wants to present the truth about war

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Interesting language

• Description of soldiers, similes, opposite of
  heroic
• Superb images are employed to graphically
  describe the men
• The dreams, powerful description
• Emphasises their degradation in war
• Graphic imagery brings out the horror and the lie
• Verbs conjure up the atmosphere of despair and
  fatigue

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The Pace

• At first - slow and tedious
• Sentences are varied in length
• Broken up by punctuation marks
• This gives the impression of the uneven steps
  taken by men
• Sudden change of pace as gas attack occurs
• Reflected in the skilful and interesting choice
  of verbs
• This use of contrast powerfully creates the panic
  and horror and leaves a permanent impression on
  the mind of the reader

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Message

• The powerful ending of the poem presents the
  major theme or thought to the readers
• The poet is disgusted by the old lie
• The poem ends on this note of anger for the
  masking of truth
• Did the poem, powerful in both thoughts and
  feelings, have a strong impact on you?