Julie, glad you found that interesting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by R. S. Gwynn
"Dulce et decorum est" usually omits the "dedication" these days. It's worth a footnote regarding the "you" of the poem, but the poem is much bigger than a personal rebuke. Sassoon wisely removed the mention of Pope or "a certain poetess" from his 1921 edition of Owens's poems.
https://archive.org/details/poemswilf00owenuoft
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Hi Sam. I agree the poem is much bigger, and the 'you' of the poem much more universal, than any feelings of personal distaste at Pope's poetry that may have prompted Owen to write it. Still, fascinating nonetheless to see how a poem that has become such an icon began with such a personal, small-scale rebuke.
Interestingly, it was Sassoon who more frequently cast a caustic eye over the jingoism of the 'smug faced' crowds back in Blighty, as seen in these two poems:
Suicide in the Trenches
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
'Blighters'
The House is crammed: tier beyond tier they grin
And cackle at the Show, while prancing ranks
Of harlots shrill the chorus, drunk with din;
“We’re sure the Kaiser loves the dear old Tanks!”
I’d like to see a Tank come down the stalls,
Lurching to rag-time tunes, or “Home, sweet Home,”
And there'd be no more jokes in Music-halls
To mock the riddled corpses round Bapaume.