Transcript Dulce UNIT - WordPress.com

Dulce Et Decorum Est
The poem we will be studying is ‘Dulce et Decorum est’
However, before we can study ‘Dulce et Decorum est’,
we need to have an understanding of the context of the
poem and why the poet, Wilfred Owen, wrote it
Today we will be learning a little about the World War
One.
The context of WW1
What do you know about WW1?
In pairs, note down any information
that you know.
Be prepared to feedback to the class!
(3mins)
Some information
•1914-1918
•Fought between Germany and England/France/
Belgium and other Allied countries.
•Mainly fought in Trenches.
•British war dead: about 880,000 men from the
United Kingdom, plus a further 200,000 from
other countries in the British Empire and
Commonwealth.
German dead: approximately 1,808,000
How would the
government get
these men to
fight?
War Propaganda
What is Propaganda?
Propaganda is spreading information to
support a cause or belief. Lies and (or)
exaggeration are used to convince someone to
do or believe something.
understand the importance of context to
poetry
understand the role of propaganda in
WW1
Success criteria for today’s
lesson will be to:
Correctly identify what propaganda is,
and why it was used.
Pairs Activity
In your pairs, you will be looking at some posters
from the first world war.
Discuss the images and answer the questions on
each, in the space provided.
Be prepared to feedback to the class – anyone
could be asked.
You have 10 minutes!
The men were convinced to fight
through effective propaganda.
Persuasive Language
•Alliteration- repeating the same letter
more than twice
•Imperative- using a command
1.Find an example of an imperative and
an example of alliteration from this
poster:
Imperative
=___________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
Alliteration
=___________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
Persuasive Language
Why is the poster describing the
country and the soldiers as
lions?
Answer=_____________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
What persuasive technique is
being used when it says “All
answer the call” or “Enlist
now”________________________
____________________________
Heroic
Imagery
•Colour- dark green represents army and
masculinity.
•Horses- represent boyhood fantasies of
war…think of chariots or the use of horses in
films e.g. Westerns
•Who is the target audience for this poster?
Give two reasons why.
Answer:______________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Reason 1.=
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Reason 2 =
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Authority Figures
-Lord Kitchener
•
He was a National war hero and a
great soldier who led Britain to
previous victories!
1. Considering all aspects, how is this
image used to persuade men to
enlist?
Answer=_________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
1. Do you think it is effective?
Answer=_________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Language and pictures were also used to create a joint message
Men were inadvertently pressurised into joining the army. In what ways do these images
do this? (You can bullet point your answers)
Answer:_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbggEGUaE28&feature=related
Music was also affected by propaganda – listen carefully to the
words encouraging the Americans to get involved in WW1
Propaganda in literature
Poetry played a major part in convincing people
that the war was worth fighting.
‘Who’s for the game’ by Jessie Pope
Who’s for the game, the biggest
that’s played,
The red crashing game of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job
unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?
Who’ll toe the line for the signal to
‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the
show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?
Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not
muchYet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back
with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?
Come along, lads –
But you’ll come on all right –
For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a
fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.
1.Decide how this
poem persuades
people to join up:
2.Do you think that it
successfully achieves
its purpose? How?
3.Who is this poem
targeting?
4.What does the poem
suggest about those
who enlist to fight?
5.What does it
compare war to and
how?
6.Which techniques
can you find?
Revision and Notes Blog
- misstomelty.wordpress.com
Reactions to this
propaganda literature
Wilfred Owen was a soldier on the front line during WW1.
He was killed in action, just a week before the war ended.
He wrote the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ in
protest at Jessie Pope’s poem ‘Who’s for the
game.’
He could see, first hand, the harsh realities of war,
and was disgusted at the extent of propaganda
used to encourage young men to sign up. He
wanted to speak out against the death and
Dulce et Decorum est
Does anyone know what this means?
DULCE ET DECORUM EST –Taken from a
Latin saying meaning ‘It is sweet and right (to
die for your country)’- in other words, it is a
wonderful and great honour to die for your
country.
This was widely quoted at the beginning of
the war and poems like Jessie Pope’s ‘Who’s
for the Game’ reflected this idea.
Video reading of the poem
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Wilfred Owen
Close Reading of Language
Is this sweet? Is this right? Is this
fitting?
With mustard gas the effects did not become
apparent for up to twelve hours. But then it
began to rot the body, inside and out.
•The skin blistered, the eyes became extremely
painful and nausea and vomiting began.
•Worse, the gas attacked the bronchial tubes,
stripping off the mucus membrane.
•The pain was almost beyond endurance and
most victims had to be strapped to their beds.
•Death took up to four or five weeks.
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we curse
through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped
behind.
Activity 1 (5 mins)
Owen uses lots of powerful imagery and similes to
describe the soldiers. Find three examples of this
and explain the effect these might have on the
reader.
Activity 2
1. What is the impact of
‘Gas! Gas! Quick
boys!’
2. Owen describes the
soldiers putting their
gas masks on as ‘an
ecstasy of fumbling’.
Why does he use the
word ‘ecstasy’?
But someone still was yelling out and
stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick
green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking,
drowning.
Activity 3
1. What is Owen describing here?
2. What is the effect of words like ‘guttering,
choking, drowning.’?
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
Activity 4
1. Why does Owen describe his dreams as
‘smothering’?
2. What is the impact of using the word ‘flung’?
3. This is a description of a man after a gas
attack, as his lungs are slowly eaten away.
Which ugly words and comparisons describe
this?
4. Who do you think Owen is addressing here
when he says ‘If you could hear’?
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Activity 5
1. What is the tone of these final lines?
2. How do you feel about this poem and what
do you think its final message is?
The first two ‘stanzas’:
Dulce et Decorum Est
(1)Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
(2) Knock-kneed, (3) coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
(4) Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. (5) All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
(6) Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of (7)fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And (8) flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
(9) As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
The first ‘stanza’
First Stanza: “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”
In the first stanza, the speaker describes the march of soldiers who have
fought hard, but now they are out of supplies and in desperate need of
medical attention. The speaker is one of the soldiers describing his fellow
soldiers.
Beggars: "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" is a simile, which
compares the men marching to beggars. Starting the poem off with an
image of men "doubled" creates the possibility that the soldiers really
have become two people: the men they were before the war and the
creatures that they are now.
Owen compares the soldiers to ‘beggars’ and ‘hags’ (old women) to
describe their terrible health and to underline their desperation.
But as bad as their condition is it about to get worse because they are
barely staying ahead of “gas-shells dropping softly behind.” Many have
no boots and their feet are bleeding, but they are heading to their
“distant rest” though it is a difficult march. They are so tired it is almost
impossible to function.
The parallel construction of the lines "All went lame; all blind;"
emphasizes misery as something all the soldiers experience. No one
escapes. No one.
The first ‘stanza’:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
1. How does calling the soldiers ‘beggars’ make them seem?
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
2. How does this make the conditions of war sound?
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
Why do you think Owen finds war haunting? (Think about what he was put into
hospital for)
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
3. Why are the men ‘marching asleep’?
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
4. ‘Lame’ means crippled here. How do you think Owen feels about the fact the
young soldiers are in such a poor state of health?
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
5. Why do you think the soldiers are now ‘deaf’ to the ‘Five-nines’ (explosive shells)?
The second ‘stanza’
Second Stanza: “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! — An ecstasy of fumbling”
But then suddenly someone calls out “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” And
they begin hastily to put on their “clumsy helmets.” But one soldier
did not get his gas mask on in time, and the speaker describes him.
The way mustard gas affects the respiratory system is like drowning,
so the speaker is portraying the dying man as a drowning victim. The
speaker likens the sight as “under a green sea” denoting the way the
air would look after they had been bombarded with mustard gas. The
air looked like the sea, and the man who failed to get his helmet on in
time is therefore drowning.
The imagery of these lines is intense. Murky green lights and allencompassing fog create a nightmare-like atmosphere.
The second ‘stanza’
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
1. What are these lines describing? Describe how this experience
would feel to watch.
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light.
2. How does the atmosphere here make the scene sound?
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
3. How do you think Owen would feel about watching his friend
‘drowning’? (The soldier wasn’t actually drowning but Owen
is using an extended metaphor to compare the gas attack to
this slow and painful death.)
Line by line - ANALYSIS
Stanza One
‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,’
Written in the past tense.
Suggests the soldiers are crippled or weighed down by
exhaustion.
The simile compares the soldiers to beggars because of their
ragged, dirty appearance.
The word has negative connotations of being homeless,
uncared for.
“Knock kneed, coughing like old hags, we cursed through
sludge,”
Alliteration of ‘kn’ sound
A simile comparing the soldiers to hags; old, ugly,
ill.
‘We’ introduces the poetic persona for the first
time so far.
“Curse through sludge” – repetition of ‘u’ vowel
sound is called assonance. It lengthens how we
say the words.
Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs
A metaphor comparing the light of the flare guns
to ghosts. Also a play on the idea that the
whole war is ‘haunting’ the soldiers who cannot
escape it.
‘turned out backs’ generally means to
shun/avoid/ignore something. The soldiers are
however only leaving the fight behind to return
to it the next day.
And towards out distant rest began to trudge
The idea of a “distant rest” is ironic. Is it their barracks? If
so how comfortable or pleasant will they be? Or is it
simply the rest that their inevitable death will grant
them?
Owen’s word choice of “trudge” suggests a long, difficult,
unhappy journey.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
Alliteration of “m”
A creepy, eerie image – as though they are the waling dead, like zombies.
Full stop creates a pause. Adds to the tension. Called caesura.
Repetition of “l” creates and long feeling continued over the next few lines.
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Word choice of “blood-shod” suggests their feet are so
injured and sore they are covered in blood, as though
they are wearing shoes made of blood. The choice of
the word “shod” is unusual since it would generally be
used when talking about animals with hooves (horses)
so it actually dehumanizes the soldiers. Owen implies
they are nothing more than beasts of burden.
“All” implies every single solider has something wrong
with him.
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Metaphor –
The soldiers are so tired they seem intoxicated –
staggering, uncoordinated. They feel confused rather
than alert.
Though the bomb shells dropping make a very loud noise
the soldiers have become so used to hearing it they are
not alarmed by it but actually accustomed to it.
‘Hoots’ - sound technique - onomatopoeia
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
The shells have missed their targets. They have not killed
anyone. Owen’s suggests that they feel sad/bad about
this.
An unsettling feeling that just behind them, close by,
bombs are being dropped but they are too tired to
really hurry or care.
Line by line - ANALYSIS
Stanza 2
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling
Abrupt change of tense, from past to present. Conveys a
sense of urgency.
Capital letters are very alarming. Suggest action.
Sound technique – Repetition of ‘gas’ plus repetition of ‘!’
indicates the men have woken up, sprung into action and
are rallying to warn each other.
Oxymoron - seems at first odd like a contradiction since the
two words don’t seem to match, but then perfect as a way
to describe the controlled panic -instantly awakened with
heightened sensibility- of men with just seconds to find a
gas mask.
Apocolyptical!!
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
Address – ‘someone’ an unknown man. Eerie and in the
moment that this dreadful incident happens.
Sound technique – repetition of ‘ing’ verb ending to
create a sense of movement.
And floundering like a man in fire or lime. -Simile – compares the man being gassed with someone burning in
order to help the reader, who cannot truly know, get a better
picture of what this gas was capable of.
‘floundering’ - like a fish out of water – the soldier being gassed
cannot breath. Sea imagery.
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
Owen speaks from experience – through his gas mask and
the thick mist of gas he is watching a man die.
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
Again with the Sea Imagery.
Simile – Owen compares the gas covered landscape to
water which conveys the extent and the pervasiveness
of the gas.
Metaphor – the man is chocking in gas, but he seems to
be drowning.
PAUSE….AND JUMP A LINE
Stanza Three
WHY?
TO CHANGE THE TENSE BACK TO NOW….
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
‘dreams’ – more like night terrors!
Address – to emphasise that Owen speaks from personal
experience.
Word choice – ‘helpless’ – Owen could do nothing to save
his fellow soldier.
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
Word choice – ‘plunges’ – the gassed man is pleading to
be saved and appeals to Owen who as we know is
‘helpless’
Sound technique – repetition of ‘ing’ verbs to indicate he
is moving and flailing about.
Word choice – ‘guttering’ – like a candle being snuffed
out. The man’s life is being put out.
Repetition of ‘drowning’.
Stanza Four
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Owen appeals to the reader’s senses. First it is SIGHT.
Word choice of ‘smothering’ – very negative, these memories are so strong
for Owen he feels suffocated by them.
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
Word choice – ‘flung’. Like an inanimate object.
Something with no worth left. And remember, this man
is dying, he is not dead yet.
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face.
Word choice – ‘To watch’ – not just glance but to have to watch and not be
able to look away or un-see such a grim sight.
Word choice - ‘writhing’ – technically eyes cannot writhe the way your whole
body can, the way a snake does, but the word is still effective. You would
writhe if you are in a lot of pain and this soldier is in excruciating pain.
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
Word choice – ‘hanging’ – he has no energy to lift his head
so it rolls about.
Sound effect – repetition of ‘Ssss’ sound. A type of
alliteration called sibilance. Snakes hiss, snakes are very
representative of the devil.
Imagery – simile – what this man has experienced is so
terrible even the devil would find it too much to take.
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Again, Owen appeals to the reader’s senses, this time
HEARING.
Word choice – ‘jolt’ – implies the wagon is rickety and is
going over rough terrain.
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Word choice – gargling – a large amount of blood
Word choice – corrupted . Implies they have turned bad.
The soldier is going rotten from the inside out.
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Simile – the sound of the soldier’s agony is the worst imaginable thing ever.
Like cancer, but mega fast acting.
Private Peaceful
Gas Attack!
Nearly Four O’clock (p150)
Develop our understanding of the realities of war
The work in today’s lesson will prepare students for an imagined response
His bedroom was a
bombsite
Metaphor
His bedroom
was like a
bombsite
Imagery
Simile
He snored, the dog snored, his
whole bedroom snored
Personification
Think about the imagery that is being
used to describe the gas
Whilst I read add images to your mind map
Imagery
Description of gas from text
Type of imagery
Powerful words and their effect
Comparison and effect
‘…we see it rolling towards us,
this dreaded killer cloud’
metaphor
rolling – like something
mechanical.
dreaded –
a cloud – something large and
threatening
Look at the description of the gas attack (pages 153–155) and then
complete the table below to analyse how the author has used
imagery to describe the gas.
Dulce et Decorum est
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at ever jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs…
Write a letter from Tommo to Charlie telling
him about the gas attack
Content:
Describe the moment you realised that you were about to be gassed
Describe the appearance of the gas as it came over
Explain how the other soldier’s reacted to the gas and what you saw happening
around you
Describe your own feelings about what was going on
Explain to Charlie the effects of the gas and what effect it specifically had on you
Tommo’s letter to Charlie
Lance-Sergeant Elmer Cotton, Northumberland Fusiliers: 'Propped up against a wall was a dozen men
- all gassed...'
Propped up against a wall was a dozen men - all gassed - their colours were black, green and blue,
tongues hanging out and eyes staring - one or two were dead and others beyond human aid, some were
coughing up green froth from their lungs - as we advanced we passed many more men lying in the
ditches and gutterways - shells were bursting all around.
My respirator fell to pieces with the continual removal and readjustment - the gas closed my eyes and
filled them with matter and I could not see. I was left lying in the trench with one other gassed man and
various wounded beings and corpses and forced to lie and spit, cough and gasp the whole of the day in
that trench.