Wilfred Owen introduces the poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, with a shocking images of soldiers in World War 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' sound - "Knock-kneed, coughing.cursed". These are short, sharp, and harsh, representing the bleak atmosphere of a ghetto in a city, or life in a war, where people stuggle to survive in appauling conditions. This allows one to relate to the poem, more readily, because one can identify by comparing with that of the battle, the experience one might see in any slum. The light in the scene comes from the flares, which are 'haunting' the men with memories of the barbaric confilict they are trying to leave behind, to seek a distant rest, and recovery. However the word 'trudge' emphasises the difficult terrain, and the difficult movements associated with exhaustion. The next line: "Men marched asleep", is a paradox which simply states their overwhelming weariness. The alliteration of the 'm' and 'n' sounds "Men Marched.Many" adds to this effect. This is developed by words such as limped, lame, blind and "Drunk with fatigue", these all suggest how oblivious the soldiers are to all around them, and how they stagger and fall - as with being drunk -. There is ironic meaning in "Of gas-shells dropping softly behind", the gas-shells are a symbol of violence, and a weapon of war but one which silently and "softly" transforms horribly, the lives of these tired mean unarare of the soft danger oblivious to the soliders. The syncopated rhythm of the second part of the stanza echoes the tired trudging through the blood soaked ground, their feet "blood-shod".
