Literary Devices in Dulce et Decorum Est

Owen alludes to Odes in order to juxtapose pro-war patriotism with the actual lived experiences of soldiers fighting for their country. Juxtaposition is a device in which two things are placed side by side in order to emphasize their differences. By presenting Horace’s idealistic portrayal of war alongside the reality of actually dying for one’s country, Owen demonstrates that there is really nothing noble or glorious about war.

This line uses an apostrophe, or an address to someone or something that is not in a position to respond. In this context, the apostrophe (“My friend”) reveals the intended reader of “Dulce et Decorum Est”: a patriot persuaded by war propaganda and who encourages young men to seek “desperate glory” by fighting for their country.

Comparing the soldier’s “hanging face” to “a devil’s sick of sin” is an example of a simile, which compares two different things using “like” or “as” to reveal or develop important themes or ideas in a text. In this instance, the simile enables Owen to present an argument against the pointlessness of endless war by underscoring the monstrous reality of battle.

Owen uses a metaphor to describe the horror of watching a soldier die during a chemical attack. A metaphor involves comparing two different things by suggesting or asserting that they are the same. Here, the dying soldier is compared to someone drowning in the sea, which conveys how thick and choking the gas attack is. This graphic imagery urges the reader to empathize with the pain and horror of the situation.

Owen makes use of epizeuxis at the beginning of the second stanza. Epizeuxis is a device in which a word is repeated in rapid succession without intervening words. By repeating the word “Gas! GAS!” Owen conveys the panic and urgency of soldiers hurriedly putting on their helmets before the gas poisons them.

Lines seven and eight feature enjambment, a device in which a phrase that begins in one line flows into the next in a line of verse. Enjambment reinforces the poem’s rhythm, while also calling the reader’s attention to the disastrous scene that is about to unfold.

To fully convey the wretched conditions, Owen employs hyperbole in his description of the soldiers suffering in the bloody war. Hyperbole involves exaggerating in order to emphasize a specific aspect of a real situation. While Owen does not literally mean that all of the soldiers went lame and blind, saying “All went lame; all blind” highlights the intensity of their suffering, which he later suggests is being overlooked by zealous, pro-war patriots back home.

The adjective “knock-kneed” refers to a condition in which a person’s legs curve inward at the knees, causing his or her feet and ankles to remain apart even with knees touching. Here, this word choice emphasizes the image that the simile of the soldiers walking “like old beggars” conveys—that they are weighed down by their sacks and their conditions.