by

Dulce et Decorum Est

2013-04-16 18:03:34 UTC

'Bent double, like old beggars under sacks'

2013-04-16 18:05:37 UTC

this implies that they were weak and looked for simple things such as sacks to provide protection

'kock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge ,'

2013-04-16 18:12:57 UTC

'knock-kneed' gives alliteration to add a rhythm to the poem, it gives an image of the knees knocking to together in the shiveriong cold.

'coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge' the soldiers were growing weak and gettin ill with cold because of their bad living conditions, also the gas would be choking them as the coughed to their death, like weak old women not big strong soldiers, they also swore as they struggled in the thick mud.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum estPro patria mori.

2013-04-16 18:23:29 UTC

2013-04-16 18:24:54 UTC

'all went lame, all went blind; drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped five-nines that dropped behind

2013-04-16 18:26:48 UTC

the soldiers kept marching with determination but they were not living, they were lame and blind by now with no energy left. 'outstripped five-nines that dropped behind' this replocates the whining sound the soldiers made, it is as if the shells are screaming or whining in exhaustion.

2013-04-16 18:37:14 UTC

'GAS! GAS! Quick boys! -- An ecstsy of fumbling fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,'

2013-04-16 18:37:41 UTC

the soldiers shouted in fear to warn the other soldiers of the gas killer that was on its way, the word 'ecstasy' make a hissing sound which is like the gas' viper killing anyone that it sinks its teeth into.

'but some were still yelling out and stumbling and flound'ring like a man on fire or lime -- dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under the sea, i saw him drowning

2013-04-16 18:53:45 UTC

'in all my dreams before my helpless sight he plunges me , guttering, choking, drowning'

2013-04-16 18:56:40 UTC

wilfred has nightmares of the death of his fellow soldier or even friend as he dies a terrible and gruesome death right in front of his eyes which will haunt him forever.

‘If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in,'

2013-04-16 19:21:37 UTC

terrible thought of those that suffered

‘And watch 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,’

2013-04-16 19:42:10 UTC

its almost as if his eyes are squirming in his scull in anguish, as his face falls as a result to the gas that is causing him to feel like he is in hell whith the devils skin, sick of sin. his lungs are burning so with very breath the soldier struggles to take the blood gurgls in his broken lungs.

‘Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,’

2013-04-16 19:57:02 UTC

the sight they are seing is something undoable like cancer which has no cure, the word 'vile' just adds on to how disgusted wilfred was that the innocent were being punished.