Dolce Et Decorum Est

Discuss the ways in which suffering is shown in Dolce et Decorum Est.
Dolce et Decorum Est is a poem full of suffering. There are many types of suffering in the poem, but the key types include, Fatigue, the physical side of war, mental suffering and physical suffering.
Owen takes on a persona for this poem as a soldier, this is key to the poem as he is telling others what war is like from a firsthand opinion. This specific technique is important as it will make the audience more likely to believe what he is saying. Owens intention was to create a “realistic” image of war and to try and prevent other young men from joining.
Owen uses lots of techniques to express suffering in his poem. One of which he uses is imagery. He uses specific images to show the fatigue within the soldiers. He writes “Men marched asleep” (line 5) this imagery shows how tired the men must be, the fact that they are marching asleep shows that they are constantly out of energy, this is also an interesting image as it is virtually impossible to “march asleep” so it also reinforces this idea of how dangerous it is because the soldiers are unaware of the surroundings around them. This idea therefore shows how the men are suffering greatly.
This same quote also shows how this is perhaps a normal activity, this is shown by a clear rhythm. The pattern of the rhythm is very basic and repetitive, this could be to show how this is a repetitive activity, it is nothing unusual, or it could be to represent the ongoing feeling of tiredness.
“Drunk with fatigue” (line 7) also exaggerates the soldiers tiredness. The fact that they are “drunk” suggests that they have had too much of something, in this case fatigue, this suggests to us that they are permanently tired; they are constantly suffering from fatigue. It could also suggest that the only thing that they can get drunk on is their own tiredness, this shows that they don’t have any free time to go out enjoying themselves therefore also suggesting...