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ebennet915 — 2025-05-12 10:41:54 UTC

The poem really gave me a jolt! While I know what is war and what happens in theory, the poem pushed me onto the battlefield with the narrator to witness the horrors of war first hand!

Owen is excellent with his choice of words as he really appealed to my imagination.

Reading this poem has made me curious about Owen's other poems, which I am going to read next.

Reading the other war poems has also made me realise that conflict and suffering are universal. This makes me sad. Why do we still get in conflict if there is so much pain and destruction involved!

2025-05-24 05:02:10 UTC

I found the poem by Owen Wilfred heart wrenching as it is about soldiers who are exhausted and worn out. And there is one of the speaker’s comrades who dies a horrific death due to putting his gas mask too late. Before reading the poem of Owen Wilfred and Doug Anderson, I thought that war was bad. But now I have perspective of people who have experienced it. The words in the Owen Wilfred’s poem ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’truly made an impact on me. As it showed human suffering and effects of war. And in the Doug Anderson’s poem about the Vietnam war the quote “ Children and old people. Anyone between/is a target. It is so quiet” portrayed the many casualties because of war and how most of the deaths are of innocent civilians. This changed how I look at a war veteran as now I can know the pain and suffering of the war they experienced, as well as the deaths of their comrades and the people they killed. The poems made me understand that suffering was universal.

steshaaskurn2604 — 2025-05-24 05:05:14 UTC

After reading Dulce et Decorum Est, The Soldier, and Futility, I’ve learned that war is much more painful and tragic than I used to think. In The Soldier, Rupert Brooke describes war as noble and peaceful, but Wilfred Owen shows the opposite. His poems describe fear, suffering, and death in a very real way. In Dulce et Decorum Est, a soldier dies slowly from a gas attack, choking and drowning in his own blood. In Futility, Owen wonders why a young man had to die and questions the purpose of life itself. The poets use strong imagery, powerful words, and emotions that made me feel sadness and anger. I used to think war was about honour and bravery, but now I understand that it also brings deep pain and loss. After reading these poems, I will look at war veterans with more respect and empathy, knowing they went through things most of us cannot imagine.

yohaansurnam — 2025-05-24 09:23:07 UTC

Reading “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon and “Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon has helped me to consolidate my understanding about the physical and emotional trauma endured by soldiers during World War I. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Suicide in the Trenches”, the authors have shown the dark reality of war. On the other hand, “For the Fallen” highlighted the bravery and sacrifice of soldiers.

Owen presented a dark and realistic review of war. In his poem, Sassoon revealed how war destroys the lives of young soldiers and Binyon, on the contrary, used a respectful tone and focused more on remembrance of those who died.

As a reader, I felt sadness and empathy. The poems forced me to face horror and injustice.

The gas attack scene in “Dulce et Decorum Est” had a powerful impact on my mind. It was difficult for me to ignore that scene as I could feel it deeply. The sentence “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” helped me to visualise the immense pain which made me think of a plague. Sassoon’s juxtaposition of a happy, innocent boy and his tragic death is very powerful. I could feel the sarcasm in the poem.

Now, I find war very tragic and a devastating experience for soldiers and their families. Henceforth, I will look at war veterans with a lot of respect and compassion as they have gone through physical and emotional trauma.

hyowonjung — 2025-05-30 12:56:01 UTC

POEM

While reading the poem, I learned how soldiers had gone through pain and suffering. This poem was very grand. This really visualised what happened and that Owen had gone through all these wars, he might have been scared and afraid which he had written down in his poems.

These are some quotes “Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs” this heightens our sense of anxiety and gives a big impact to the readers.

There seemed to have been limited medical aid for the soldiers which made them die easily so suppose that they should have invented more medicine that time which might have helped the soldiers be cured.

After reading this poem, I had felt uncomfortable with the soldiers who were fighting for their country at that period. Owen had been brave to write these poems with strong words expressing the violent truth he had seen. These poems describe the conflict they had and were depressing.

Also this poem by Owen Wilfred, Futility explains a despairing news of a soldier’s death, these words such as cold, snow describe a soldier’s dead body having all the heat out of its body. This poem pushes me into the situation which feels realistic, notifies Owen’s sorrow into the dead body, meaning injustice for taking an innocent life in a sudden happening of war.

ninakanwah — 2025-05-30 18:14:02 UTC

The poem was really meaningful.

As it expresses the sad and sorrowful emotions.

Owen describes the experience on the battlefields, the suffering of the soldiers and how Owen highly encourages young boys to not join the army as it will traumatize their whole life.

Owen shows how chilling the experience is for examples: "bent double, like old beggars under sacks," this emphasizes their exhaustion and suffering.

Then he encounters a gas attack which results him into witnessing the agonizing death of a soldier who didn't put his gas mask in time.

In the last line: The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" in Latin means "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country"

Owen argues how this "old lie" is deceiving young men into going to war to fight for their country but leads to eternal suffering(PTSD)