"Dolce et Decorum Est"
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.

This is one of the most Famous world war 1 poems written by Wilfred Owen. The poem is an anti-war piece of literature which describes in poetic detail the experience of a soldier. The poem was written during a period of extreme nationalism. The poem stood out against patriotic literature of its time.

The first line "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" describes how the trenches cause otherwise healthy young men to behave like old people. It continues on to illustrate the horrors soldiers encountered in the trenches. Owen, a soldier himself, could adequately portray these images having experienced the trenches. The last line, a latin phrase, means "It is sweet and right to die for your country". This was a popular quote during the war, and Owen uses it at the end of his poem to emphasize his anti war stance. This account portrays a gruesome and tragic part of the war in which the government preferred to gloss over.