Dulce et Decorum Est Group

Question:

tinagunderson34
tinagunderson34
Student
College - Freshman

What kind of person is the speaker in "Dulce et Decorum Est"?

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Posted by tinagunderson34 on Sunday March 16, 2008 at 12:16 PM and tagged with dulce et decorum est, person, speaker.

Answers:


  1. cybil Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The speaker in this person is a World War I soldier who witnessed another soldier's horrible death because he did not get his gas mask on in time when the "hooting" gas shells fell. Inhaling the caustic chlorine gas destroys his lungs and causes him to drown in fluid from his own lungs. Other soldiers can only watch helplessly.

    Observing this horrid scene after experiencing the exhausting, miserable march that he describes at the beginning of the poem has embittered the speaker. He declares that Horace's adage "it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country," a translation of the title, is wrong. Clearly this speaker strongly disapproves of war, which he depicts as a hellish experience.

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    Posted by cybil on Monday March 17, 2008 at 6:41 PM