“Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem written by Wilfred Owen that describes the horrors of the First World War through the senses of a soldier. Owen uses extreme and harsh imagery to accurately describe how the war became one that all soldiers knew about. This was in protest at the way England glorified war. Since all the imagery he uses has a negative connotation, by the end of the poem the imagery has overwhelmed both the soldier and the reader. The imagery in Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" makes it clear that the war was not the honorable thing England wanted it to be, but instead was a horrible reality that no one would have to face. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay War, although mostly negatively connoted, has been viewed positively in some societies. Many cultures see fighting in war for one's country as an example of honor and pride. The very title of Owen's poem is “Dulce et Decorum Est” which alludes to the Latin phrase “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”. This phrase translates to “It is sweet and right to die for your country.” After reading the poem, it becomes clear that Owen is being sarcastic in the title and is actually objecting to the phrase completely as he calls it "the old lie." The imagery he uses completely supports this argument as it is anything but "sweet and proper". Owen goes to great lengths to portray the scenery around the soldiers as dark, dirty, and disgusting to combat the idea that everything about war is "sweet and proper." Owen uses graphic imagery throughout "Dulce et Decorum est", to provide imagery to the audience. Readers are greeted with horror and disgust, which is probably what Owen intended. He describes the gas-stricken soldier as having his “face hanging down…gargled with foam-corrupted lungs.” Owen uses these stark images to accurately describe the war and what the soldiers were involved in. He makes sure readers are aware of this and further aware of his bitterness and anger. Owen encourages the reader to feel angry about what is happening to these innocent young people. As a specific strategy to take the glory out of the war, Owen uses particular similarities between the soldiers and the lower members of English society to portray the reality of the war. English society at that time was clearly separated into classes, and the upper classes were undoubtedly seen as superior to the lower classes. The soldiers were seen as the country's heroes, and thus were grouped with the upper class in how they were viewed. However, they were treated and lived “like old beggars under sacks” (1). He also compares them to "hags" (2) who invoke not only the lower classes, but also evil. By showing soldiers in this light rather than the glorified way society saw them, Owen takes away the glamor of war and replaces it with a disgust associated with the lower classes. Every image that Owen evokes in his poem is about the worst description of a situation one could imagine. In a way, it makes the poem seem a bit absurd as some of the images are difficult to understand. It seems, however, that this is the effect Owen wanted to convey. The way he describes the lives of soldiers is so terrible that the average reader cannot even comprehend the images he is describing: “If you could feel, with every gasp, the blood/Come and gargle from the corrupted lungs with the foam ,/Obscene as cancer, bitter as the ruminant/of vile and incurable sores on innocent tongues” (21-24). With phrases like “obscene as.