If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in.
And watched 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,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as 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.
The fourth stanza is all leading up to the final lines. How does Owen go about doing that?
Is that the fourth stanza?
Are these the final lines? "Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori"
yes that's the fourth stanza
i think so i don't know
the whole text is
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Wilfred Owen
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 disappointed shells that dropped 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 floundering 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 watched 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,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as 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.
“It is sweet and right (honorable) to die for your country.”
What does the fourth stanza describe?
our speaker doesn't even care whether we could actually experience the horrors of battle or not.
He knows that we can't share those experiences with him.
He's just wishing that we could share the dreams of the experiences of battle, but we can't do that.Our speaker's going into detail, forcing "you" (or, well, us) to imagine just how horrible his dreams can be.
The body of the dream-soldier writhes in surreal agony.He wants to ram home just how absolutely degrading, humiliating, and surreal the destruction of the human body can be.
Within minutes, the body of a young man turns into a mass of aging sores – almost as a version of cancer moved through his body at warp speed.His speaker is deep in the memory of his own dream – and he's dragging us along for the ride.after drawing us deep into the hell of his personal experiences, our speaker lashes out at the those who helped get him into this mess.
As he bitterly reflects, the war efforts begin at home.
Lots of people are willing to convince young (and, he suggests, gullible) "children" that they can find glory on the battlefield.
The fourth stanza paints the horror of a soldier dying a ghastly death. Yet, ironically, he finishes the stanza by saying that death is sweet and it's honorable to die for your country.
thank you so much :)
This is the ENTIRE last part of that poem. This is what it's all leading up to. I've added emphasis in bold.
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.
“It is sweet and right (honorable) to die for your country.
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html
The lines you've provided are the final stanza of the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, a renowned English poet and soldier during World War I. The poem is a powerful denunciation of the glorification of war and the false notion that it is noble to die for one's country.
In this particular stanza, Owen vividly describes the horrific scene of a soldier dying from a gas attack. The "white eyes writhing in his face" and the blood "gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs" depict the suffering and agony experienced on the battlefield. The phrase "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" comes from the ancient Roman poet Horace and translates to "It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country." Owen ends the poem by calling this sentiment an "old Lie."
The purpose of this poem is to expose the grim reality of war and challenge the romanticized idea of sacrifice and glory in combat. Owen, having experienced the horrors of war firsthand, aims to convey the truth to those who might be tempted to perpetuate such ideals, especially to children who might be influenced by lofty tales of heroism.
If you want to further explore the meaning and context of this poem, I would recommend reading the full text and analyzing Owen's other war poems. Additionally, studying historical accounts of World War I and learning about the experiences of soldiers can deepen your understanding of the poem and its message.