Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est

Dulce et Decorum Est When this assignment was given I was not sure which piece of literature was my favorite. I looked at the titles on the syllabus and I remembered how much I enjoyed â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† written by Wilfred Owen. After reading â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† the first time I found it immediately appealing. This poem grabbed my attention more than any of the other selections we have read thus far, making it my favorite. This is unusual to me because ordinarily I don’t like poetry or so I thought. There are a few characteristics of this poem that make it appealing to me. First and for-most is the graphic imagery that Owen brings to life. I haven’t before read such amazing descriptions as the ones found in this poem. Next, the topic of war caught my attention. Finally the message he relays in his poem. His message is that it is a lie to think that dieing for ones country is â€Å"sweet and fitting.† This entire piece is full of vivid descriptions of war, specifically World War I. This first line paints a stunning picture of the soldier, â€Å"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.† After reading that line I can clearly see what the soldiers looked like marching with the great weight of their packs forcing them to hunch over. Owen further describes the men by saying that they â€Å"All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue.† This again lets me visualize the movements and appearance of the troops. Next he brilliantly describes a scene where gas has just exploded near his group. He says that there was an â€Å"ecstasy of fumbling† to get the masks on in time. However, there was someone who didn’t get his mask on soon enough and he was â€Å"flound’ring like a man in fire.† I can’t imagine that scene being described any better. Then Owen describes himself looking through â€Å"misty panes† and â€Å"think gree n light†. Here he is giving a description of what it was like to look through the ... Free Essays on Dulce et Decorum Est Free Essays on Dulce et Decorum Est Dulce et Decorum Est When this assignment was given I was not sure which piece of literature was my favorite. I looked at the titles on the syllabus and I remembered how much I enjoyed â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† written by Wilfred Owen. After reading â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† the first time I found it immediately appealing. This poem grabbed my attention more than any of the other selections we have read thus far, making it my favorite. This is unusual to me because ordinarily I don’t like poetry or so I thought. There are a few characteristics of this poem that make it appealing to me. First and for-most is the graphic imagery that Owen brings to life. I haven’t before read such amazing descriptions as the ones found in this poem. Next, the topic of war caught my attention. Finally the message he relays in his poem. His message is that it is a lie to think that dieing for ones country is â€Å"sweet and fitting.† This entire piece is full of vivid descriptions of war, specifically World War I. This first line paints a stunning picture of the soldier, â€Å"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.† After reading that line I can clearly see what the soldiers looked like marching with the great weight of their packs forcing them to hunch over. Owen further describes the men by saying that they â€Å"All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue.† This again lets me visualize the movements and appearance of the troops. Next he brilliantly describes a scene where gas has just exploded near his group. He says that there was an â€Å"ecstasy of fumbling† to get the masks on in time. However, there was someone who didn’t get his mask on soon enough and he was â€Å"flound’ring like a man in fire.† I can’t imagine that scene being described any better. Then Owen describes himself looking through â€Å"misty panes† and â€Å"think gree n light†. Here he is giving a description of what it was like to look through the ... Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est A Glimpse of â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† gives the reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem is an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen and makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument. To have a better understanding of the poem, it is important to understand some of Wilfred Owen’s history. Owen enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles on October 21st 1915. He was eventually drafted to France in 1917. The birth of Owen’s imagery style used in his more famous poems was during his stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where he met Siegfried Sassoon (another great war poet). Owen’s new style (the one that was used in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est†) embellished many poems between August 1917 and September 1918. On November 4, 1918, Wilfred Owed was killed by enemy machine gun fire as he tried to get his company across the Sambre Canal (Stallworthy). The poem tells of a trip that Owen and his platoon of exhausted soldiers had while they were painfully making their way back to base after a harrowing time at the battle front when a gas shell was fired at them. As a result of this, a soldier in his platoon was fatally gassed. Owen has arranged the poem in three sections, each dealing with a different stage of this experience. He makes use of a simple, regular rhyme scheme, which makes the poem sound almost like a child's poem or nursery rhyme. This technique serves to emphasize the solemn and serious content. In stanza one, Owen describes ... Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est Dulce et Decorum Est Poems are one of the most powerful ways to convey an idea, message or opinion. The poem â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est†, a war poem by Wilfred Owen, makes effective use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its use of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen’s use of precise diction emphasizes his point, showing that war is a horrible and devastating event. Through figurative language, a poem can give the reader the exact feeling the author had intended. Furthermore, the use of extremely graphic images adds more to his argument. Audience is also an important aspect of writing, and one that Owen considers well in this writing. In addition, the author uses punctuation to create texture in the poem. Through the effectiveness of these five tools, this poem expresses strong meaning and persuasive argument of the dark side of war and is an excellent example of powerful writing. The author’s use of excellent diction helps to clearly define what the author is saying. (Fulwiler and Hayakawa 163) Powerful verbs like â€Å"guttering†, â€Å"choking†, and â€Å"drowning† not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in a great deal of pain that no human being should endure. Other words like â€Å"writhing† and â€Å"froth-corrupted† hint to exactly how the man is being tormented by his enemy, as well as himself. The phrase â€Å"blood shod† forces the image of men who have been on their feet for days, never stopping to rest long enough to recuperate. One can almost feel the pain of the men whose feet have not gotten a rest from the heavy boots they wear. Some of the boots are torn and worn, and some of the men have no boots at all. Frostbite. Gangrene. Amputate. All possible words they might hear. If they live long enough to find out. Also, the fact that the gassed man was â€Å"flung† int o the wagon reveals the urgency and responsibility that accompanies fighting: there is no t... Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est An Analysis of Imagery in Wilfred Owen’s â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est† We have all seen the movies and read the stories of World War I. They give us an idea of what is what like to fight in a war of that great magnitude. The battles were bloody, horrifying, and ferocious. â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est† is a great poem written by war poet Wilfred Owen. It involves a tragic war situation. His imagery gives detail to what is was like on the battlefield, and also to state what his thought is on the war. In the first two stanzas’s Owen describes how the soldiers are trudging back to camp from battle. The soldiers are fatigued and wounded as they return to the campsite. The men are walking asleep, ignoring the blast of gas shells in the background: 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 are 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. The way Owen describes the trudge back to camp allows the reader to open their minds to the events that are occurring. This allows them to see the reality that the war was for the soldiers. I believe Owen’s use of these images are aimed at discouraging the thought of war. In the third stanza Owen is describing a gas attack on the soldiers as they are trudging back to camp. Owen describes the soldiers fumbling to get their mask fastened, all but one, a lone soldier. He is struggling to get his mask on but doesn’t get it fastened quickly enough and suffers from the effects of mustard gas: Gas! Gas! Quick boys! -An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone st... Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est Based on the Poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owens The poem is one of the most powerful ways to convey an idea or opinion. Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors, the poem gives the reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est," an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen, makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument. The poem's use of excellent diction helps to more clearly define what the author is saying. Words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in terrible p ain that no human being should endure. Other words like writhing and froth-corrupted say precisely how the man is being tormented. Moreover, the phrase "blood shod" shows how the troops have been on their feet for days, never resting. Also, the fact that the gassed man was "flung" into the wagon reveals the urgency and occupation with fighting. The only thing they can do is toss him into a wagon. The fact one word can add to the meaning so much shows how the diction of this poem adds greatly to its effectiveness. Likewise, the use of figurative language in this poem also helps to emphasize the points that are being made. As Perrine says, people use metaphors because they say "...what we want to say more vividly and forcefully..." Owen capitalizes greatly on this by using strong metaphors and similes. Right off in the first line, he describes the troops as being "like old beggars under sacks." This not only says that they are tired, but that they are so tired... Free Essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est Interpretive Essay on â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est† By Wilfred Owen â€Å"In October 1917 Wilfred Owen wrote to his mother from Craiglockhart, ‘Here is a gas poem, done yesterday†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.the famous Latin tag means of course it is sweet and meet to die for ones country. Sweet! And decorous!’† {1} Wilfred Owens poem â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† is a magnificent and stirring description of a gas attack suffered by a group of soldiers in World War I. Inspired by the author’s first hand experience, the poem’s grim description is especially moving. The title is ironic, as the work goes on to communicate the ridiculousness of the old Latin saying from the perspective of a soldier. The poem is composed of four stanzas. The first two appear to be in English sonnet form, although the last two are not nearly as structured. The tone from the outset is one of exhaustion and horror. The speaker’s words continually evoke realistic images of the scene before him. Through a combination of similes and metaphors, the author presents powerful literal images of war and artfully communicates the sense of despair with which the witnesses must have been struck. The word selection of the first stanza immediately invokes the realistic visualizations for which the poem owes its impact. â€Å"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge†. The image is one of exhaustion and despair. It is easy for the reader to visualize this scene and the dreadful conditions from the power of the speaker’s description. The reference of old beggars seems so out of place, as these were predominantly young men. What conditions could have made these strong young men appear to the speaker as old beggars? The simile begs the reader to consider the conditions they endured. Visualize these old yet young men cursing through the sludge. A sense of monotony is evident with the use of the wo...

How to Read Shakespeare Dialogue Aloud

How to Read Shakespeare Dialogue Aloud On first sight, Shakespeare dialogue may seem daunting. Indeed, the idea of performing a Shakespeare speech fills many young actors with fear. However, you should remember that Shakespeare was an actor himself and wrote for fellow performers. Forget criticism and textual analysis because everything an actor needs is right there in the dialogue – you just need to know what you’re looking for. Shakespeare Dialogue Every line of Shakespeare dialogue is packed with clues. Everything from the imagery, structure, and use of punctuation is an instruction for the actor - so stop looking at just the words in isolation! Clues in the Imagery Elizabethan theater didn’t rely on scenery and lighting to create a scene, so Shakespeare had to carefully choose language that created the right landscapes and moods for his plays. For example, read aloud this passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Puck describes a place in the forest: I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and nodding violet grows. This speech is loaded with words to suggest the dream-like quality of the text. This is a clue from Shakespeare on how to read the speech. Clues in the Punctuation Shakespeares use of punctuation was very different – he used it to signal how each line should be delivered. Punctuation forces the reader to pause and slows down the pace of the text. Lines without punctuation naturally seem to gather momentum and emotional energy. Full stop (.) Full stops naturally bring the sense and energy of the line to a close.Infrequent commas (,)A comma forces a slight pause in delivery to reflect a tiny development or shift in the character’s thought process.For example, read aloud Malvolio’s line from Twelfth Night: â€Å"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.† Did you notice how the commas forced you to pause and split this sentence into three parts?Repetition of commas (,)Commas can also cause a line to gather in emotional intensity. If you see lots of commas together, evenly spaced and splitting the lines into small snappy chunks, then this is Shakespeare’s way of asking you to emotionally invest in the dialogue and build up its rhythmic intensity, as in this example from King Lear: ... No, no, no life!Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,And thou no breath at all? Thou’it come no more;Never, never, never, never, never.Colon (:) A colon signals that the next line should sound as if it is responding to the previous line, as in Hamlet’s â€Å"To be, or not to be: that is the question.† Do Not Add Punctuation If you’re reading aloud a speech written in verse, you may feel the need to pause at the end of each line. Do not do this unless the punctuation specifically requires you to do so. Try to carry the sense of what you’re saying into the next line and you’ll soon discover the correct rhythm of the speech. You should think of a Shakespeare play as a blueprint for performance. All the clues are there in the text if you know what you’re looking for – and with a little practice, you’ll soon discover that there’s nothing hard about reading Shakespeare’s dialogue aloud.