The Necessity of Experience in Interpretations of War

One of the primary themes of “Dulce et Decorum Est” is the need for personal experience with war to be able to understand it. The poem’s final stanza lays this idea out explicitly, but it infuses the entire work. Importantly, this experience need not be gained on an actual battlefield — Owen implies that dreams are sufficient to comprehend the reality. Through the poem’s frequent pairings of imagery and similes, Owen’s readers arguably gain the necessary exposure to war to attain this comprehension.

The poem opens with a blend of bodily imagery and similes that grant readers a more precise understanding of the images. The soldiers are not just “Bent double” (1), they are bent “like old beggars under sacks” (1). Similarly, they are not just coughing but sound “like hags” (2). In these opening images, the similes capture how...