The text presents a vignette from the front lines of World War I specifically, of British soldiers attacked with chlorine gas. The earliest surviving manuscript is dated 8 October 1917 and addressed to his mother, Susan Owen, with the message: "Here is a gas poem done yesterday (which is not private, but not final)." It was drafted at Craiglockhart in the first half of October 1917 and later revised, probably at Scarborough but possibly Ripon, between January and March 1918. One of Owen's most renowned works, the poem is known for its horrific imagery and condemnation of war. It is followed by pro patria mori, which means "to die for one's country". The Latin title is taken from Ode 3.2 ( Valor) of the Roman poet Horace and means "it is sweet and fitting". "Dulce et Decorum est" is a poem written by Wilfred Owen during World War I, and published posthumously in 1920. To children ardent for some desperate glory, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,– If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodĬome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin, If in some smothering dreams, you too could paceĪnd watch the white eyes writhing in his face, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumblingīut someone still was yelling out and stumblingĪnd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.-ĭim through the misty panes and thick green light,Īs under a green sea, I saw him drowning. All went lame, all blind ĭrunk with fatigue deaf even to the hoots Many had lost their boots,īut limped on, blood-shod. Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,Īnd towards our distant rest began to trudge. Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
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