Wilfred Owen: Dulce Et Decorum Est Quiz

What is the difference between the “we” of the speaker and the “you” the speaker is addressing in the poem?

• (A) a soldier and a nurse

• (B) the soldier’s family and a priest

• (C) a government official and soldier

• (D) a soldier and a person safe at home

• (E) a veteran and recruit

In context of the poem, the “ecstasy of fumbling” (line 9) could best be characterized as

• (A) irony

• (B) hyperbole

• (C) symbolism

• (D) understatement

• (E) oxymoron

What is the clearest purpose of the poem?

• (A) to keep soldiers from enlisting in armies

• (B) to provide an non-romanticized depiction of war

• C) to protest the use of toxic chemicals in warfare

• ( (D) to illustrate the importance of community on a battlefield

• (E) to chastise government officials

In lines 4 and 5, which sound technique dominates the flow?

4 And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

5 Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

• (A) onomatopoeia

• (B) cacophony

• (C) rhyme

• (D) assonance and consonance

• (E) alliteration

What is the effect of the repetition of the word “If” in the last stanza?

• (A) add an air of plausibility to the situation

• (B) illustrate the dying soldier’s regret

• C) force the older generation to see the effect of their words

• (D) create a sympathetic mood in the poem

• (E) none of the above

In the opening stanza, the chief purpose of the figurative language is to

• (A) portray cowardice

• (B) deglamorize war

• (C) humanize soldiers

• (D) rationalize war

• (E) celebrate bravery

The use of the word “dreams” in the third and fourth stanzas could best be replaced with

• (A) hopes

• (B) illusions

• (C) goals

• (D) visions

• (E) nightmares

What is a plausible reason for Owens’s choice of the Latin “Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori” instead of the English,“It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”?

• (A) to instill the wisdom of the ancients

• (B) to use an antique saying to illustrate the consistency of the pattern

• (C) to maintain the meter

• (D) to add an aura of reverence to the deaths of the young men

• (E) none of the above

Which rhyme inherently conveys the conflict and message of the poem?

• (A) “sacks” (line 1) and “backs” (line 3)

• (B) “light” (line 13) and “sight” (line 15)

• (C) “blood” (line 21) and “cud” (line 23)

• (D) “glory” (line 26) and “mori” (line 28)

• (E) “sludge” (line 2) and “trudge” (line 4)

The final line of the poem—“Pro patria mori”—breaks the meter of the poem for what reason?

• (A) to illustrate the difference in meter between Latin and English

• (B) to reflect a truncated life of soldiers killed in action

• (C) to emphasize the poem’s rhyme

• (D) to pause for effect

• (E) to announce the theme of the poem