Critical Essay: “Dulce et Decorum Est” – How to Structure your Essay!

The Question: Write about a poem that deals with the theme of war and shows the poet’s attitude.
You should begin by thinking about the question and highlighting the key words so that you know exactly what you should be focussing on in this essay.

Essays almost always break down into 4 key stages:
1 Introduction
2 Brief summary
3 Main body
4 Conclusion
1 Introduction
Keep it short – no more than 100 words
First sentence: mention Owen’s name, the poem’s name and the key words from the question
Second sentence: you should make it clear that your essay will consider how a variety of poetic techniques work together to make clear the theme and the poet’s attitude and give a list of the poetic techniques you will discuss such as imagery – simile, description, word choice; – e.g. “Owen uses imagery to create a sense of being physically crippled when he says …” alliteration, onomatopoeia; e.g. “Owen uses onomatopoeia to let the reader hear how much the soldiers are suffering when …” structure – exclamation mark, capital letters; and tone – irony in which Owen creates that effect – each of these poetic techniques will be the paragraph topics in the main body of your essay.
2 Brief summary maximum 50 words
Struggling to make it to the rest camp
The soldiers are tired and exhausted
They are sick and suffering severely after fighting in the trenches
They suffer a mustard gas attack
3 Main Body of Essay
This consists of 5 SEAL paragraphs structured as follows: STATEMENT = topic sentence

EVIDENCE

ANALYSIS

LINK
Each paragraph will discuss a different poetic technique ( TOPIC )s. The poetic technique paragraphs should be written in the order that they are mentioned in the introduction.

STATEMENT for each paragraph should introduce TOPIC of the paragraph with a clear TOPIC SENTENCE. TOPIC SENTENCE formula:
(2) ESSAY TASK (… poem that deals with theme of war and shows the poet’s attitude)

TS = (1) SIGNPOST +2 links

(3) PARAGRAPH TOPIC (poetic technique to be discussed)

(1) SIGNPOSTS
Use signposts at the start of topic sentences to link ideas and paragraphs together like: eg One way, Another technique, Furthermore, Additionally, In addition, etc ….
(2) ESSAY TASK
Each topic sentence must link back to the key words in the question. Don’t repeat them. Try to find alternatives.
(3) PARAGRAPH TOPIC Each topic sentence must then introduce the poetic technique to be discussed
EVIDENCE you must give evidence to prove the point you make
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