I first read Dulce in college lit, back in 1983. I failed a commentary on it, because I had read Owen's biography and what he had done during the war, and I spoke up for what I thought it was saying. I left college shortly after that, and enlisted in the USAF.
Owen's words came back to haunt me during the Gulf. When we first came under a Scud attack, and the sirens sounded and the whistles blew and you knew it wasn't a game...already in your protective suit, gasmask in a pouch at your side, knowing that time is growing ever shorter - and "and ecstasy of fumbling..." came to mind.
Owen wasn't arguing against war. He was a warrior poet. He was arguing against the propaganda and lies that surround the very old sending the very young off to die. Rather than tell the truth, they would tell the old Lie... |
