A. Read one poem closely: I want you to read “Dulce et Decorum Est” on page 250. Read it aloud a few times (and move to it), and then answer these questions (typed or handwritten form is fine, and I encourage you to do these with others):
a. Do the first two lines sound pretty or ugly? How exactly is that done, and why do you think the poet wants it to sound that way?
b. What are the two similes in the first two lines? What do these similes do to you when you read them? Why doesn’t the poet just leave them out?
c. What is happening in the first 8 lines? What is the mood, the tone? Can you feel a speed, an energy to these lines? How is that speed created?
d. Things change in line 9. What is different about the content, about the sounds, about the whole energy of this line? Be specific and observant.
e. What is happening in lines 10-15? What similes are used? Are they effective to you? What are some of the strong word choices? Think of a few substitute words (like “comes” instead of “plunge” in line 16) to help you see how effective word choices can be.
f. In line 18 the word “flung” is used. Why that word and not “threw”?
g. In lines 18-25, what are some of the powerful images and some of the strong
word choices? Why does he pick some of the words that he picks?
h. In this whole poem, what are some examples of senses (sight, taste, etc.) that
are used? Can you find an example for each of the five senses?
i. Who is the speaker (the “I”) of this poem? Who is the speaker talking to when he says “you” in line 17? In what way is it effective to be using this “you”?
j. The poem switches from past to present tense in the middle of the poem?
Why is this done, and do you think it’s effective?
k. Look very closely at the another version of this poem on back of this sheet.
Notice that there are quite a few differences—some small (like a comma) and some large (like half a line missing). List all of the differences you see, and next to each, write what you think that small difference does to the poem—to its emotion, to its meaning.
l. What is this poem saying about war? How effectively do you think the poet
makes his point? Are you emotionally moved by this poem?
m. Memorize—that’s right, memorize—any five lines of the poem. In class I’ll ask you to either recite these lines or write them down.
n. Draw—that’s right, draw—anything that relates to this poem (abstract is fine).
DULCE ET DECORUM EST1
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge
Till on the haunting flares2
we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest3
began to trudge.
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 hoots4
Of tired, outstripped5
Five-Nines6 that dropped
behind.
Gas!7
Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets8
just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime9
. . .
Dim, through the misty panes10
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,11 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 cud12
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13
To children ardent14 for some
desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.15
1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country
2 rockets which were sent up to burn with a brilliant glare to light up men and other targets in the area between the front lines (See illustration, page 118 of Out in the Dark.)
3 a camp away from the front line where exhausted soldiers might rest for a few days, or longer
4 the noise made by the shells rushing through the air
5 outpaced, the soldiers have struggled beyond the reach of these shells which are now falling behind them as they struggle away from the scene of battle
6 Five-Nines - 5.9 calibre explosive shells
7 poison gas. From the symptoms it would appear to be chlorine or phosgene gas. The filling of the lungs with fluid had the same effects as when a person drowned
8 the early name for gas masks
9 a white chalky substance which can burn live tissue
10 the glass in the eyepieces of the gas masks
11 Owen probably meant flickering out like a candle or gurgling like water draining down a gutter, referring to the sounds in the throat of the choking man, or it might be a sound partly like stuttering and partly like gurgling
12 normally the regurgitated grass that cows chew; here a similar looking material was issuing from the soldier's mouth
13 high zest - idealistic enthusiasm, keenly believing in the rightness of the idea
14 keen
15 see note 1
B. Bring in a poem that you like. This can be a song. If you want, bring the CD/tape in and we’ll listen to a few.
C. Quick Reads: In your syllabus is a list of 64 poems in the book. Disregard the instructions I’ve given you there, and instead do this: Read #1-24. Read each a few times and read them out loud, maybe even taking the risk of moving around while reading (your knees want to read; so does your belly). And then maybe make some kind of note to yourself about the poems you really like, really dislike, and those in between. Be ready to talk about these.
D. Write a poem: Try your best at writing a poem of your own. Make it look nice (typed or written neatly) so that others can read it. We’ll probably do something in class that will get you going on this.
-they write a poem
-they read bunch of poems