Samuel Murphy

“Dulce Et Decorum Est” Short  Assignment

Col Miller

ENG 205 Wx

4/11/18

Wilfred Owens writes the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” explaining the horrors of the Great War. He explains the tragedy of himself witnessing a solider succumbing to a gas attack. I have notice with the earlier versions of this poem, he edits certain passages that has not included in the final draft. The second paragraph heavily implies the description of the gas attack. In the rough draft version, he questions whether a gas shell or a “dud” dropped into his position before concluding the situation. In the final draft, straight up, he says “Gas! Gas! Quick Boys”! I like this change because it gets straight to the point and it anticipates what will happen next. Sometimes it is better to surprise your audience than to beat around the bush.

The next change takes place in the third paragraph and the word “guttering” is changes a few times.  Googling, gargling and gurgling were the words that replaced guttering in the beginning, yet he settled for the word guttering. Personally, I would use “googling” in this sense because the other words to describe the soldiers demise was “choking and drowning” and googling would elaborate more of this event.