Matthew Lee
Mrs. Williams
Literature 8
5/16/13

Dulce Et Decorum Est In Dulce Et Decorum Est, the author, Winfred Owen, uses visual imagery and personification to show that it is not right or proper to die for your country, but instead it is a horrible fate. He illustrates war through the gruesome point of view of a soldier.
During war, soldiers are deprived from sleep and many other necessities.
Owens writes “Men march asleep. Many had lost their boots but limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all went blind; drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired outstripped five-nines that drop behind”(5-8). It shows the hardship of war and how mentally and physically tortured the troops were from the war. It also shows that they are use to their harsh surrounding, had lost the sensitivity to sounds of bombs going off and how tired they were. It showed how harsh the war was and how it scarred the soldiers. As vivid as the visual imagery was, the usage of personification is just as disturbing. On the battlefield, soldiers see indescribable images and are haunted by it for life. The author writes”…And watch the white eyes writing in his face, his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” (19-20). Owen illustrates this to show the haunting images and horrors of war, also it shows how the soldiers are scarred from what they have seen. In Owen’s case, it is seeing a fallen comrade and it seems as though death now controls his body. Owen portrays visual