Wilfred Owen wrote the war poems, Anthem for doomed youth and Dulce et Decorum est and Siegfred Sassoon wrote The Hero. They are all based on how ghastly and atrocious world wars are and that any man
fighting in them deserves more. In the poem Dulce et Decorum est Wilfred Owen puts his attitude towards war and his fellow soldiers very strongly. Dulce et Decorum est is translated to mean it is sweet and right to die for your country, which therefore automatically makes us feel that Wilfred Owen is with the idea of war but that is not true. As all through the poem he contradicts himself up all the way to the last sentence. ‘The old lie; Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’ This was extremely clever by Wilfred Owen as he contradicted himself it stood out the most and makes it seem as if he detested war more than anything and that the title was therefore just a giving a sarcastic approach towards the idea of war. Consequently this leads on to the idea that war was being lied about and that the communication between those at home and those on the front was virtually non-existent as those sitting in their armchairs at home thought that the soldier’s were having the time of their lives. He describes strongly the mood and how mentally and physically ill all these soldiers were. ‘Knock-Kneed, coughing like hags we cursed through the sludge’ This is an extremely powerful sentence that constructs a vivid image in your mind and helps you to relate the terror and repulsive conditions that these soldiers were going through.