Dulce et Decorum est
"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem written by British poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen in 1917, and published posthumously in 1920. The work is known for its horrifying imagery and its condemnation of war.
Dedication
Throughout the poem, and particularly strong in the last stanza, there is a running commentary, a letter to Jessie Pope, a civilian propagandist of World War I, who encouraged—"with such high zest"—young men to join the battle, through her poetry, e.g. "Who's for the game".
The first draft of the poem, indeed, was dedicated to Pope.[1] A later revision amended this to “a certain Poetess,”[2] though this did not make it into the final publication, either, as Owen apparently decided to address his poem to the larger audience of war supporters in general. In the last stanza, however, the original intention can still be seen in Owen's bitter, horrific address..
Title
The title and the Latin exhortation of the final two lines are drawn from a poem of Horace (Odes iii 2.13):
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:
mors et fugacem persequitur virum
nec parcit inbellis iuventae
poplitibus timidove tergo."
"How sweet and lovely it is to die for your country:
Death pursues the man who flees,
spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs
Of battle-shy youths."
These words were well-known and oft-quoted by supporters of the War near its inception,[3] and, as such, were of particular importance to soldiers of the era.
