‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’
THERE ARE some terms in our story with which I would like you to familiarise yourselves. While Mrs Osborn uses the word negro, her employer does not, preferring the offensive use of ‘nigger’ and ‘darkie’. Such usage reveals his racial bias. We have also ‘mother wit’, gyp game, pines and scrub and nose glasses. Do you know who Paul Robeson was? He was a successful black singer and actor so I wonder if he is mentioned here to put Milberry in a positive light.
Hey, class. I hope you had some lively arguments about how “Berry” ends. Was it unexpected or not, disappointing or not? A review of the attitude of the ones with power in the story should have prepared you for their behaviour. What I believe most if not all of us would have preferred is an ending where Berry is shown appreciation for his hard work and unselfish behaviour. Perhaps we would even have liked to see Dr Renfield being exposed for his dishonesty but, as this bit of literature is a reflection of life and not a fairy tale, we should not have expected anything different. So, yes, we are disappointed as Berry loses not only his job but his week’s pay because he lives in an unjust society.
Here is another piece of literature that could cause you to feel disappointed because it deals with one of the realities of life. War may be seen by some as glorious. Many veterans of recent wars, however, tend to disagree as they have seen and, what is worse, have experienced frightening scenes of horror which still live with them. There was and probably still is that idea that going to war for one’s country is honorable but that is not the whole truth as the persona in Owen’s poem shares with us. Let us now read Wilfred Owen’s poem that appears below.
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . . Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori. – Wilfred Owen
Please read it a second time right now and, as you do so, try to identify two things for me:
a) The philosophy which had been presented to the soldiers, including the poet, who went to the First World War
b) The philosophy of the speaker in the poem to the philosophy they had been given. Alright, alright, we must have some fun with our work! I want you, in other words, to consider whether the speaker agrees with the theory of honour through war. You are aware that the speaker in Owen’s poem is not an onlooker but a participant. He shares firsthand experiences, therefore. How would you categorize what he and his fellow soldiers are seeing and are going through? Do they seem warm and happy?
Are they buoyed by feelings of honour as they constantly face suffering and death for their country? The speaker’s description focuses, rather, on the soldier’s experiences and it is graphic and memorable. Who, having read this poem, can forget the gruesome picture of the soldier who is poisoned by the gas because he is unable to get his helmet on in time?
Do find some time this week to answer the following questions.
Why are the soldiers compared to ‘ hags’? What are ‘Five-Nines’?
What was it that corrupted the dying soldier’s lungs? Until the next ‘class’, continue to read and analyse this poem. God bless!