Speaker and characters

The main characters in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen are the speaker himself, or the lyrical I, and the soldier affected by chlorine gas. However, you can also think of the unnamed receiver in the last 14 lines as an absent charact…

...

The speaker

It is very hard not to associate the speaker in the poem with the poet himself. (Normally, those two aren't necessarily the same). “Dulce et Decorum Est” was written based on the poet’s own experience on the front in World War I and the depiction is made very personal through the use of the possessive and personal pronouns “my” (l. 15), “we” (l. 3), “I” (l. 14).

This speaker is a soldier, in a middle of an attack, after many nights spent on the front together with his military company. He and his fellow soldiers are exhausted both physical…

...

The soldier

The soldier who dies because he inhales chlorine gas is a fairly central figure in the poem. The fact that we know nothing about his background and his identity suggests his case is very common on the battlefields. He illustrates the many anonymous victims of war. Fur…

...

The unknown receiver

The poem was originally dedicated to another poet, Jessie Pope, who wrote poems encouraging men to go to war. While she was the initial receiver of the poem, the dedication was not included, in the e…

Teksten herover er et uddrag fra webbogen. Kun medlemmer kan læse hele indholdet.

Få adgang til hele Webbogen.

Som medlem på Studienet.dk får du adgang til alt indhold.

Køb medlemskab nu

Allerede medlem? Log ind