Another thing that really piqued my interest is the alternate interpretation of the last stanza of the poem; that the girl has not actually died but has become a ghost of herself. I genuinely did not think of that and the new interpretation makes the poem more relatable to modern beauty standard obsessions. In the pursuit of ‘perfect beauty’, humans become ghosts of themselves and the most dismal thing is those who have lost themselves never seem to realize what they have become. Quite heartbreaking.

Plastic surgery and looking pretty is not a bad thing, but quoting Madam Diana, “do it for yourself and not for the sake of pleasing others”. A very crucial thing everyone should remember, don’t you think?

It’s a sad reality that nowadays parents don’t have time to be around their kids anymore. They’re too busy working because they want to provide the best for their children. They’re sacrificing their time with their family for their family for the sake of their family. Pretty ironic. But honestly I applaud parents that work hard to put food on their table and also spend their relaxing time for their kids. Though it’s exhausting, they get to watch their kid grow and that's a reward in itself. Not many are willing to do that. In the poem, the man kept disappointing his son until his son thought that it’s ok to not spend time with his family. 

To sum it up, this song is a reminder to all of us to not waste too much time and effort on materialistic things until we lose sight of the people we love. This song also serves as a sign for the younger generation to look after family ties. and one should always, always cherish the sacrifices done by their parents. No matter how annoying and out of fashion they are :')

That’s why I probably like Dulce et Decorum Est I suppose. It’s keeping things real. Straight to the point. It’s refreshing to see a piece of literature not glorifying war and how heroic it is to fight battles of others. But no, one would say, it wasn’t battles of others , it was theirs, the country’s. I say no, it’s not. Did the milkman have a grudge against the neighbouring country? Did the next door toddler plan the assassination against the Austro-Hungarian prince? No they did not. And yet there were swept into the hurricane of politics and wars.

Coming back to my earlier comment, I like how the poem is dark and gritty with zero ounce of flowery nonsense. War kills. And the ones that it coughs out alive, are left to deal with nightmares for the rest of their lives. The imagery is vivid enough to make one feel like they’re there standing in the middle of the battlefield, watching the soldiers stumbling while fumbling with their flimsy helmets. You can feel their terror as the green cloud rolls down suffocating the ill-fated ones as their comrades watch on in horror.

War destroys whatever in its path no mercy given. You would think men would learn their lesson after so much destruction, but as we all know, humans are stupid. One can only hope that the Wilfred Owen’s words are heeded by the new generation of leaders.

What makes me happy (there's a lot actually lol):