... is really referring to the soldiers in their state of panic. Owen describes how the scene looks; with the gas creating a "thick green light". The description of the surroundings makes the reader feel that they are really at the scene. Owen then uses a wonderful but awful simile to describe the death of the soldier. Owen writes, "as under a green sea, I saw him drowning". This means that the soldier is dying as ... to bed by the nurses. The poor condition of the man creates pity in the reader. The man feels sorrowful when he hears "voices of play and pleasure after day". Owen repeats the...

• Word Count: 2724
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... children ardent for some desparate glory, The old lie; Owen uses the devastating experiences of one soldier and the sights he has seen to relay his message. On the other hand, Lovelace wrote his poem at a time when it was the most glorious thing a man could do was to fight for one's country. The problem with this is he has never tasted the bitter sting of steel on flesh ... and is caught up with the idea of being a hero and the romantic notion of war. Both author's accomplish their intended message, and desired effect through a serious of simile's, metaphor's, and personification. In "Du...

• Word Count: 1258
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... under the stress of war. He describes the misery as a universal condition; "All went lame; all blind," as though no one can escape. Visual imagery is a potent technique used throughout the poem when recounting the disturbing scenes of battles and the dying soldier. For example, it is displayed when Owen says, "Under a green sea, I saw him drowning" and "Blood come gargling from the froth ... -corrupted lungs". Repetition of the letter 'l' is present as we roll our tongues to make ... "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" meaning it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country, as ...

• Word Count: 1027
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the beginning and the end it is most remembered. This line needs to be remembered as the poem is based on the idea of it as 'the old lie' mocking the established belief of nationalism and duty to your country. Also, it is mocking the established authoritative language of Latin that was reserved for the courts and churches. The line is sarcastic as Owen has now himself seen a gas attack and a man drown 'under a green sea', and ... has found out that dying out there in a far off land was a waste of a life and ... is completely pointless. How can it be sweet and fitting to die for ... ...

• Word Count: 1001
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... language that he uses to describe the man's suffering send a strong message to the reader - that war is as "vile as a sore". Owen starts the poem by describing the exhaustion of the group of men. The poem begins with a simile - "bent double, like old beggars under sacks," which shows the reader immediately that the men are exhausted, walking slowly and dragging their feet along the ground, using up all their effort lifting ... . Owen uses an extended metaphor - "Dim, through the misty pains and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning." Owen compares a man dying in an ...

• Word Count: 1068
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... , as in this case. The gas itself is thick and green, making the atmosphere thick and the light green. The next metaphor featured occurs in the next line - As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. This situation is linked to the earlier use of the word floundering, and carries on the sea theme in a more definite way. The man is giving up the fight, onomatopoeic of the desperate fight for air under a sea. The "sea" in this situation is actually ... episodes. His last two lines are the main subject of the poem and include the title itself. Although these lines are not separated from the r...

• Word Count: 2354
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... understand them. An example of this would be: "flound"ring like a man in fire or lime- this example makes us aware of the movement which this soldier would use during the gas attack "flound"ring". Another implication this simile has is that the soldier would not be in control of the situation as if a man was on fire he would not be able to put it ... dreams, before my helpless sight he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning". The second and final image group I will be studying is: "Sea or Drowning". Owen uses this image group usually to describe the situation of a soldier or soldie...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... aware of all their surroundings. According to Owen , " Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning" The green light Owen talks of is the sight through their gas masks. Owen uses a simile saying that the man is drowning in a green sea. The reality of this is that the man is drowning in a sea of his own toxic blood. Owen also uses metaphors such as ... , "Drunk with fatigue", to display how tired the infantrymen are, this metaphor ... ones country if you die like this. This is the country that sold him the old lie. "Dulce ET decorum est. pro...

• Word Count: 1851
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... understand them. An example of this would be: "flound"ring like a man in fire or lime- this example makes us aware of the movement which this soldier would use during the gas attack "flound"ring". Another implication this simile has is that the soldier would not be in control of the situation as if a man was on fire he would not be able to put it ... dreams, before my helpless sight he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning". The second and final image group I will be studying is: "Sea or Drowning". Owen uses this image group usually to describe the situation of a soldier or soldie...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... one's country. In the first lines of the poem, horrifying imagery begins to introduce the poor physical condition that war has brought to the soldiers. Owen depicts the men as "bent double, like old beggars under sacks." This simile demonstrates how dirty and unhealthy the soldiers appear. Furthermore, the comparison of the soldiers and the "old beggars" is important because the adjective 'old' helps depict how the men have aged prematurely ... be a 'decorated hero.' The term flound'ring suggests that the man is having an absolute panic attack set on by something as miserable ...

• Word Count: 966
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the misty panes and thick green light As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. The man was dying as a result of not putting his gas mask on in time. The imagery Owen uses to describe this mans death leaves an image of excruciating pain and suffering. Perhaps the most important part of the poem comes in the last stanza. He graphically describes the deceased solider as the rest of the solders see him. The ... corpse obviously left a horrible image in the mind of whoever is talking in this poem. Owen then goes on to say, "My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children arden...

• Word Count: 514
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... 1. The first two lines sets the mood of the poem - the horror and starkness of life in the war. He refers to the soldiers as 'hags', 'old beggars', who are 'bent double' and 'knock-kneed'; creating an impression of tired, filthy, unshaven, pitiful people. Alliteration is used to create the desperate mood in these two lines, by repeating the heavy sounds of the 'b' - "bent double... old beggars', and the 'k' ... in lime (which burns the skin), who trying vainly to get the fire out, or get the lime off. Owen appeals to the sense of sight by describing "Dim through the misty panes and thick...

• Word Count: 988
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... it awoke him, even in France, Until this morning and this is snow," The general starts begging the sun to start shining on this poor soldier to awaken him. "If anything will rouse him now, The kind old sun will know," The second stanza goes much deeper into the Generals emotions he is saying why did the sun break the earth to create us, if we are going to ... slaughter each other. "Think how it wakes the seeds, Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides ... on. "And floundering like a man in fire or lime" This line is saying the soldier was panicking t...

• Word Count: 983
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the idea that the majority of the population and the media are unmindful to the realistic situations soldiers face, Owen utilizes redolent figurative language when exposing a more sensible account of war. The speaker is reminiscing of the moment when he helplessly looked on as one of his comrades fell victim to a suffocating gas. He illustrates the tragic event metaphorically by comparing the man choking on the gases to someone "drowning " in a "green sea ... language and gory diction, Owen conveyed the idea that most propaganda and other media outlets merely display the superficial lay...

• Word Count: 974
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... imagery is in this poem. The images "drunk with fatigue," and "coughing like hags," states that the men are in deep tiredness and sick with "cancer." Stanza two was brought in with the yell of "gas" and panic which are described as an "ecstasy of fumbling." Images in the second stanza, "Green Sea," and "like a man in a fire and lime" give the intense color of the scene, green. As it ... is hard for anyone to imagine the devil, Owen brings in an image in the last stanza that is beyond one's mind to ... the old lie "Dulce Et Decorum Est." As an educated man Wilfred Owen was able to recogni...

• Word Count: 837
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... cursed through sludge, till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge". The phrases like old beggars and coughing like hags creates images of the physical condition of the soldiers. Trudging indicates that the soldiers were moving through thick mud with great difficulty. The soldiers may be moving away from the battlefield in order to revive ... themselves from exhaustion. In the last four lines of the stanza, she continues to paint the tainted picture of the soldiers. ... the horror of the solider who is dying. The use of rhyme and imagery...

• Word Count: 711
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... He is talking about the narrators view from underneath the gas mask. "As under a green sea, I saw him drowning." This simile tells us what the gas would have looked like through a gas mask and the soldier would have almost been drowning because his lungs were filling up with the gas and he was suffocation. The two lines of the third stanza are describing the narrator and the soldier and the way there was nothing ... that either of the men could ... to the man who has inhaled the gas, "his eyes rolling in agony." "His hanging face", meaning that his face was contorted due to his loss of...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... up by giving phrases such as "like old beggars under sacks", "men marched asleep", and "drunk with fatigue", which strongly provides the readers with vivid pictures of soldiers pushing forward in slow and controlled pace despite of deplorable conditions they are in. Entering the second stanza, the rhythm seems to break out from that of the first stanza. The poet gives the readers a sense of extreme urgency by ... a twist of irony as it is depicting a completely bewildering time for the soldiers. As readers advance further, the caesuras between lines thirteen and sixteen of the end of se...

• Word Count: 708
• Approx Pages: 3

... not fortunate enough to get his on in time. The lines, "under a green sea, I saw him drowning" (14) and " . . . before my helpless sight"(15) tell the reader that despite the number of people that are there, there is nothing that can be done to save this man from dying. But it is the third stanza that marks the permanency of war: "In all my dreams, before my helpless ... -12) because he "threw away his knees" (10) The women all touch him like a "queer disease" and he is alienated from them. In the third section and the sections following, the soldier is continuing to reminisce of the tim...

• Word Count: 1643
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School