Poem 003

Mirror

by: Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful –
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
 
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible

 Comments

Does anyone realize that the whole poem is a facade? The mirror says that it's unjudgemental and it just reflects everything it sees.... it calls the candles and moon liars and goes on about how the woman needs the mirror. It also compares and places itself within the ranks of godliness.

I'm wondering, though, if it really is Plath's conscience that is the terrible fish? It could be that I haven't studied enough on Plath's background to know her well, but I'd like some input on friends or family members that could be the old woman...

Does anyone actually understand my train of thought on this?

Kristin Grenada , USA
Thursday, May 4, 2006

It was amazingly heart wrenching. I believe that that woman in the poem is a young girl in the beginningَfull of beauty, smiles, and laughter. Nearing the middle, she changes into the old woman that could have been her mother. Many times, children see their parents as "old". So, when she morphed into this older woman, she saw herself with wrinkles and age. A midlife crisis, if you will. She wants to hang onto the lies that people tell her - that she's beautiful, young, and everything that a woman wants to be. Desired, attractive, intelligent - but in reality, her beauty is failing, her intelligence will be sought out with insanity, being desired is no longer in the matter. To me, poems should not be analyzed for the sake of keeping the attraction to the poem. Analyzing poems is annihilating them; but, to understand the author is to better understand the poem.

Emily Hillsdale , USA
Thursday, May 4, 2006

What a bittersweet poem. After reading all the other comments, I can see that the interpretation of art is truly subjective indeed.

What I saw in Sylvia's poem was this: She describes what is like to be a mirror and what the mirror's dispassionate, detached purpose is until she writes: "I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. [...] "Faces and darkness separate us over and over." What I think she is referring to here is the despair of loneliness and depression, of relationships come and gone, with none bearing the fruit of a soul- satisfying true love. "A woman bends over me. Searching my reaches for what she really is."

I think the woman, Sylvia perhaps, is looking at her reflection in the water. She feels lost, she is empty, she has no satisfying love in her life, perhaps she wasted her youth on a love that went nowhere. "Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully." Now I took this in two ways. The first was that she turned away from looking at her reflection in the lake, turning her back toward it and the lake reflected her back back to her as a good mirror would. And I also took it to mean that the mirror "saw her back", in other words, the next time she picked up the mirror to look at herself. "She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands." The woman's hands are agitated and how would the mirror know that if she were not clutching the handle in an agitated fashion or clutching at her face in despair, because she is also crying.

I believe she is looking with despair into the mirror because she see's that she's now old, and she's having a moment of absolute desperation, a moment of agonizing truth. She feels her life has no real meaning and has been wasted perhaps on a love as I mentioned that may never have worked out right because "she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon." To me candles signify romantic love and the moon represents promises, romance, dreaming of one's love, which can be a lie when the love you're dreaming of is inappropriate for you or not loving you in return. They also signify to me the softening of one's aging appearance in the soft light, rather than seeing the truth of aging in a brighter, truer light. She is definitely ageing because "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish."

Fish are for the most part, unattractive and ugly and aging can make a woman feel the same way. Her youth is passed and age is gaining on her. "Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness." When one is depressed and unhappy with their life, one way to deal with the darkness is to just do what one must do every day, that is, you go through the motions, you get up, get yourself ready and get on with your day. When you've got no one loving you, and your life is at the pivotal point where you realize your youth is gone and you've done nothing with your life but involve yourself in a series of unsuccessful loves, your age will rise toward you "like a terrible fish"ک and repel you, most certainly. It's a terrible feeling. Trust me.

Cathy Couey Lebanon, Oregon , USA
Saturday, January 28, 2006

I studied this poem during my course in poetry, and I really enjoyed it. What I'd like to add is that the last line of the 1st stanza of her poem(Mirror)reflected her old age as dark and separated her from others, in comparison to the 7th line of the same stanza which presents her youth in a pink colour.

Eiman Riyadh , Saudi Arabia
Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Personally I saw the poem as a vivid portrayal of a woman's toil through a very reliable persona the 'mirror.' The pathetic irony is that in truth or deception she is ultimately wretched hence the juxtaposition of the words 'cruel' and 'truthful' in verse 3. As for the second stanza, the poet's emphasis is stressed upon the relentlessness of time which has taken its toll on the woman. I personally feel the image of the 'young girl' who has 'drowned' expresses an innocence and blissful ignorance which has long passed and tossed her willy-nilly in the harshness of this tough reality. I also feel that such insight into one individual's suffering would be nowhere near possible without the involvement of the self, leading me to believe that the woman is in fact Sylvia herself. Hints at this include her reference to; 'those liars, the candles and the moon,' in which the candles and the moon are both of romantic symbolic value, and it is known for a fact that she and her ex-husband were not of good relation.

Jonathan Tonna Attard , Malta
Saturday, November 26, 2005

To me, the persona is suffering from depression, she looks into the lake obsessively unable to reconcile her past and fully understand who she is. Without this understanding she cannot move foward and thus is doomed: "searching my reaches for what she really is". The young girl who has drowned in the lake could be interpreted as representational of a youth wasted by anxiety and constant self evaluation. She never reaches this understanding of self and therefore is doomed to staring into the lake for the answers she wants to see but the lake denies her this by instead being bluntly: "truthful". The young girl is replaced by the old woman to symbolise the both; the passing of time and of physical change although her insecurities remain the same. The last line that describes the old woman: "rise towards her day after day like a terrible fish" could refer to the woman being consumed by her own anxieties, which is slowly rising to the surface, the way a fish may swim just below the surface of a river, visible to the eye yet not quite tangible.

Clare Cardiff , Wales
Tuesday, November 1, 2005

When I read the poem "Mirror" the only thing I got out of it was the role the mirror plays when one seeks or denies the truth about themselves. Where the poem says: "A woman bends over me/Searching my reaches for what she really is" that tells me that this woman is not happy about her appearance of personality and looks away because she denies herself that appearance that the mirror reflected of her. Where it says: "Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully", When she looked away she did not want the truth but wanted the joyful lies of the moon or candles, in this case the moon and candles in my opinion represent people who lie to her, telling her she is a great beautiful person, when in reality she is not. There are many people who refuse to accept reality, and sometimes causes them to stress themselves out. Just like in the case of Sylvia Plath, she could'nt accept the fact that in her time women were still expected to do what was known as traditional roles which were cook, clean, and care even though women were fighting for their rights, causing her stress and to commit suicide.

Josue Brooklyn, NY , USA
Wednesday, October 19, 2005

From my understanding, Sylvia Plath is in some way trying to find her identity so she turns to her own reflection and tries to see who she is. In the poem when she says "whatever is see I swallow immediately" she is saying that she takes whats around her and she trys to make something out of it, in a way to find out what her purpose is.

David New York , USA
Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I feel that this poem has a lot of different meanings. When Sylvia refers to the mirror as being not cruel and truthful, she means that what you see is not false. As with the moon and candles showing you in a different light, the mirror is not going to lie to you. Or it could be saying that the way she sees herself, others may not see her the same way. They may look at her as the opposite of what she thinks of herself. Also, the poem talks about her inner child escaping and the older version of herself rising, that could probably mean that she had to grow up fast. She didn't have time to enjoy her childhood.Also when she refers to the older version of herself as being a terrible fish, she may mean that she sees herself as an ugly old woman and not the way she first portrayed herself.I'm not exactly sure which of these meanings are correct but as you can see I had many different thoughts after reading this poem a good three to four times.

Shanethea Brooklyn, New York, USA
Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I really like this poem because it holds so much truth. My interpretation was that, this was simply a mirror telling the story of its purpose and existance. I think the mirror represented truth. It's the only place that you can find really find unbiased truth. We lie to ourselves, others lie to us and so I think that what Plath is trying to portray is that when you finally do see the truth, its too much to bear and that's why the woman in the story acts the way she does. This woman must look to others to determine her identity, but when she looks inside herself (the reflection in the lake), she realizes that she is not a great person and depends on what others say about her instead of trying to form an identity for herself. The 'mirror' says: "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/Rises toward her day after day." I think this is the main point of the poem. The woman does not want to accept the fact that she is aging. Maybe she associates youth with beauty and thinks that she will lose her beauty as she gets older. Therefore, she looks to others, her peers, to comfort her by reassuring her that she is beautiful. But if she can't find it in herself, is she truly beautiful?

Ginelle Brooklyn, NY , USA
Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I have a theory on Plath's poem 'Mirror'. I seem to be the only one thinking in this way, however I would appreciate any of your thoughts!!

I believe that this poem has a hidden meaning and shouldn't just be taken at face value. I feel that Plath uses the mirror as a symbol of herself. Yet, in the second stanza she describes a woman who looks into the mirror/lake. I also believe that this is her. One refers to her sane state of mental health (the mirror) and the other refers to the insane person within Plath. She describeds herself as "silver"(I believe this is a play on Sylvia) "and exact" meaning that she is a normal being with no disturbed thoughts or uncontrolled emotions.

"faces and darkness separate us over and over." Here I believe Plath is describing transferring from one state to the other - darkness symbolises her depression and faces are her demons that bring her into a state of insanity. This is reinforced in the second stanza: "she comes and goes."

However, I'm not exactly sure on which represents the true Plath and which the insane side to her. In the second stanza it could be argued that the woman is the 'real' Plath as she describes this being emerging from within the lake which could represent when the demons take over she finds it hard to find her state of sanaty and emerg from the lake! Any thoughts??

Samantha Letterkenny , Ireland
Friday, September 9, 2005

"Mirror" is one of Sylvia Plath's most popular poems. The poem handles an issue that is of pivotal importance to all women women's submission to male domination.

Throughout the poem Sylvia Plath sheds light on the status of women within society; in the same way that women depend on the mirror, they depend on men. According to Sylvia, women are marginalized, belittled and entangled in male-domination. The poem is a kind of rebellion against the so-above-depicted status of women. Sylvia stresses the idea of women's ability and capacity to introduce a revolutionary change. A change, the seeds of which are planted thanks to the poem.

Sylvia, through her poem, tries to raise women's awareness towards their status, and thus, prepares them for rebellion against women's silence, submission and inferiority. The phrase "like a terrible fish" further reinforces the idea of rebellion. Women's psyche doesn't merely consist in beauty, fairness and gentleness ; it can turn out to "terrible" when women's rights are violated with no consideration.

One of the pleasures of reading poetry is the opportunity it offers for personal reflection, but since I am not a woman and the poem concerns only women, I can not normally relate to it. However, every man can relate to this poem in the sense that it provides us with an insight into women's sufferings and the hardships they undergo because of men's arrogance and egoism.

Mouad Tijani Rabat, Morocco
Sunday, September 4, 2005

I think this poem is amazing! I think the persona in the poem, which is the author, looks into the mirror and tells the truth, the story not as the mirror, but as the reflection in the mirror. She is afraid to admit the truth but once the image has reflected in the mirror the truth is unveiled. The woman is getting old and she knows it deep inside but still does not have the courage to admit it to her self.

The reflection in the mirror is like her subconsciousness which is freed by the mirror's purity and speaks out through the mirror's point of view. This shows the power of the mirror, symbol of truth; even if one does not want to reveal the facts the truth is obvious and speaks for it self. The mirror is not a god nor has some magical powers; it is just "truthful" and does not have "preconceptions"; unlike humans who are biased and superstitious. Telling or admitting the reality even to your self is not easy. People tend to deny the truth and live in imaginary world where they are young and beautiful, that یs the way the she looks to the candles and the moon turning her back to the mirror who is reflecting it "faithfully".

Dimitar St. Petersburg, USA
Thusday, April 7, 2005

The mirror in the poem symbolizes truth. Truth is a powerful tool in the piece. The mirror is cold and sharp like its touch. When you look into a mirror you only see what is there, the phase "Whatever I see I swallow immediately" supports my statement. If a person has flaws a mirror will be straight forward and display them with no hesitation "Searching my reaches for what she really is." In the first stanza, the "I am not cruel, only truthful" phrase reveals the mirror's personality and charter. Unlike humans a mirror cannot judge her with opinions. Sylvia Plath uses onomatopoeia to give the mirror human characteristics. On line five she writes "The eye of a little god, four-cornered" which shows that the mirror is given God-like powers over the women. It becomes almost an obsessive relationship between the mirror and the women because she looks to the mirror for comfort only to confronted with the truth about your youth wasting away.

The mirror triggers conscious and unconscious memories of her life faithfully. On line thirteen it reads "I see her back, and reflect it faithfully" once again showing that truthful charter of the mirror. Regardless of the fact she hates her reflection the women becomes dependent on the mirror, and on line fifteen you can see that relationship were it saws "I am important to her. She comes and goes." The phase "I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions." Shows that a mirror is not capable of showing anything else, then what is put in front of it. The mirror shows no color and has no preference.

Although the mirror revels reality the women still clings to objects that blind her from the truth. In the second stanza, the phases "Then she turn to those liars, the candles or the moon" shows that the women is attempting to hide her flaws behind the darkness. It is very clever that Sylvia Plath used the candles and moon light in this poem because those two items usually are used for romance. While searching for her identity she contradicts herself by running away from the truth, instead of embracing it.

Even away from the mirror the woman is forced to face reality through nature. The lake is very similar to the mirror because they both reveal the women's true identity and honest reflection. Plath uses a metaphor to refer to the candles and moon as liars because they just reveal shadows, and they only show half of the big pictures. The candles and moonlight don't give the exact truth like the mirror. The candles and moon are just distractions to finding the essential self. The candle and moonlight show her a deceptive delusion by hiding wrinkles, dentures, hair loss, and weight gain.

The phase "Now I am a lake" reveals the transformation of the mirror. The women then realizes even outside of her home she can't escape the truth. It is obvious that she is unhappy with her reflection. On line fourteen it states "She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands," which implies that she is ageing, and it is difficult for her to except the ageing process with open arms. While she is crying the mirror sees it was a reward and has no sympathy. The woman misses the youth and beauty of the young girl she was. On line seventeen it states "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman." It is very difficult for the women to go though the aging process because she feels depressed and insignificant.

The last line of the poem reads "Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish," indicates that she feels insecure about her reflection. It is interesting that Plath chose a fish instead of any other animal. When Plath used a lake in place of a mirror she may have needed a creature that lived in a lake to compare her feeling of living in the mirror. She is trying to make to point that a fish depends on water the same way the woman depends on the mirror. Usually fish are very glamorous animals because they come in all different shapes and sizes, but the women in the poem contradicts that stereotype. She sees herself as a something terrible because of her fading beauty. Sylvia Plath suffered from depression and had very little compassion for herself. This poem shows how she was scared from the truth the mirror was showing her. Throughout this poem there is a theme of the truth and lies. The poem "Mirror" is about a women torn between the true picture of herself and the distorted image others see of her.

Jenny Shungu Silver Spring, USA
Friday, March 18, 2005

"Mirror", I think is one of Plath's best pieces. Instead of talking from the view of a person or omnious being it's from the very mirror itself. This mirror which "meditates" on her wall. Like a god, it has power over her, it is "not cruel, only truthful". It "swallow"s her. She is its follower, she worrships it for its truthfulness. Then when she is away from home she finds her mirror, her god in the lake. She lowers herself to it, "searching my reaches for what she really is". She is searching for her identity so she turns to her god of which she has placed her faith. She may look to the moon or stars with their romance but forever returns to the mirrors truth. It hurts but she needs it, craves it, it is important to her. She returns day after day, growing old, age coming to her "like a terrible fish"

Oleander Normal , USA
Tuesday, March 8, 2004

I think the mirror deals with a number of aspects and issues people, especially women go through; depression, insignificance,delusion, obssesion. Most of you have commented on nearly all of these, but have yet to analyse the importance of the mirror itself in the woman's life. It has power over the woman and it knows it "I am important to her" she is always finding herself coming back to it "she comes and goes, each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness" and in effect this is the truth with all of us.

How many times to we look into a mirror everyday? Most of us could not go through life without looking for our reflections "now I am a lake." Even if the mirror is not near her it still surrounds her whever she is and the stimes she finds herself straying from the mirror when she "turns to those liars, the candles or the moon" she always comes back to "reward" the mirror with "with tears and an agitation of hands" because it tells her the truth whether she likes it or not. The mirror has watched her grow from a young girl to the woman she is today and will still watch her grow into the older woman she will become; "In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman/ Rises toward her day after day"

She is so insignificant compared to this mirror even though it is little object that can easily be broken , the pieces that it has broken into will always reflect and will do so "faithfully." The mirror is the woman's "little god" she "bends" to look to it like servants to a king. It is "four cornered," contained in this "silver and exact" frame is so much truth and Plath is trying to say that truth is a powerful thing. The mirror is not capable of showing anything else but truth, it entails no other emotion, it is cold and sharp like its touch. Please reply if you agree or have never thought of the mirror this way before, Or email me if you have any other suggestions about the mirror's power.

Frankii Torrance, California, USA
Saturday, February 26, 2005

I am not as in depth in my knowledge of Sylvia Plath as others seem to be here in this forum but after reading "Mirror" I have developed some of my own ideas.

Beginning with the "no preconceptions" the mirror has, it is true, what you see is what you truly are. A mirror has the uncanny ability to show who we are not only on the surface but on the inside as well. Our true self is reflected on our faces and how we present ourselves daily; "only truthful". The "eye of a little god" should not be interpreted as a higher being but more of a puppet-master, dictating how we should change our appearance to suit the rest of our daily lives; i.e., if we are going out and look a bit tired, we change our face coloring or brush our hair. We accessorize to suit the occasion. The mirror may be all knowing and truthful but it is ultimately ourselves who make the changes to appease the vision before us.

Realizing that the diffusion of light caused by candles and moonlight is not a true reflection of our physical appearance, those two are "liars", liars to our egos to make us think we are better and maybe softer than what we really are as humans. But the mirror always tells the truth. The woman who "rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands" must come to realise that she is who she is. Her youth is now faded and no mattter how hard she tries to dilude herself into looking younger on the surface, the mirror is always there to show her the truth. Yes, the mirror has "drowned a young girl" and replaced her with a middle-aged woman. One who has life's experiences etched in the lines and creases of her face. This should be something to be proud of, not shyed away from. Knowing that Ms Plath suffered from depression and eventually took her own life, it is too bad that she did not have it within herself to see that the next step of life's beauty should not be shunned but embraced.

Lisa Fullerton, USA
Thursday, Januart 20, 2005

I am a tenth grade student completing a research paper about Sylvia Plath. Using the Contemporary Literary Criticism volumes at my schoolیs library and some comments on this forum, I have concluded the following about her poem "Mirror".

Plath portrays herself as both the mirror and the woman throughout the poem, reflecting her two personalities. Initially, Plath is the mirror: an object that reflects any image that is in front of it. Like the mirror, Plath was a perfect reflection of whatever anyone wanted her to be. She received near perfect marks through college and conformed to societyیs demands into her marriage. However, as the woman in her poem, Plath is unable to accept herself and turns away from the ىtruthfulî mirror to admire her moonlight shadow, a deceitful representation of her conformist faءade. Under the veil, Plath contained her ىmonster,î her true self. She ىadored [her father] and despised him, and... probably wished many times that he were deadî because of her divergent personalities (quote from a Sylvia Plath radio interviewَyes, she said that she wanted to kill her dad). In ىMirror,î Plath accepts that her ىterrible fishî is preparing to emerge from the shadows as the true shape of Plathیs personality, perhaps the cause of her suicide.

P.S. Go to the new Denver 2600! (Borders Cafe at Arapahoe and Parker 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month, 5 to 8)

Abatis Aurora, USA
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

---

---

Poem 002

William Shakespeare

SONNET 138
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

SONNET 138	PARAPHRASE
When my love swears that she is made of truth	When my mistress swears that she is faithful
I do believe her, though I know she lies,	I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,	That she might think I am some inexperienced youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.	Ignorant of all the deceit that exists in the world.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,	Thus foolishly thinking that I am still young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,	Although she knows that my best days are behind me,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:	Foolishly I give credit to the untruths she tells about me;
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.	So that both of us are supressing the ugly truth.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?	But why does she not tell me that she is unfaithful?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?	And why do I not admit that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,	O, love's best disguise is the pretence of truth,
And age in love loves not to have years told:	And older lovers do not like to have their age pointed out:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,	That is why I lie to her and she to me*,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.	And the lies we tell each other help us forget our respective faults.

ANALYSIS

[Line 13]* Notice the double meaning of 'lie'. The line can also be interpreted as "That is why I sleep with her and she with me."

In Sonnet 138 the poet candidly reveals both the nature of his relationship with the dark lady and the insecurities he has about growing older. Unlike his intense affair with his other lover -- who is the subject of the earlier sonnets and likely the real-life Earl of Southampton -- the poet's affair with his mistress is (for now) uncomplicated and practical; it fulfills his most basic needs of both sexual pleasure and continual reassurance that he is still worthy of love despite his age. The Sonnets as a whole show us that Time was Shakespeare's great nemesis and, although the dominant theme in Sonnet 138 is the comfort that lies bring to an insecure mind, a discourse on the ravages of time is once again present. A variation of Sonnet 138 was originally included in The Passionate Pilgrim (1599), along with Sonnet 144. There are minor differences between the two poems and for those who wish to do a comparison of the two I reprint it here

Poem 001

DULCE ET DECORUM EST₁

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.¹⁵

8 October 1917 - March, 1918

1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country 

2 rockets which were sent up to burn with a brilliant glare to light up men and other targets in the area between the front lines (See illustration, page 118 of Out in the Dark.) 

3 a camp away from the front line where exhausted soldiers might rest for a few days, or longer 

4 the noise made by the shells rushing through the air 

5 outpaced, the soldiers have struggled beyond the reach of these shells which are now falling behind them as they struggle away from the scene of battle 

6 Five-Nines - 5.9 calibre explosive shells 

7 poison gas. From the symptoms it would appear to be chlorine or phosgene gas. The filling of the lungs with fluid had the same effects as when a person drowned 

8 the early name for gas masks 

9 a white chalky substance which can burn live tissue 

10 the glass in the eyepieces of the gas masks 

11 Owen probably meant flickering out like a candle or gurgling like water draining down a gutter, referring to the sounds in the throat of the choking man, or it might be a sound partly like stuttering and partly like gurgling 

12 normally the regurgitated grass that cows chew; here a similar looking material was issuing from the soldier's mouth 

13 high zest - idealistic enthusiasm, keenly believing in the rightness of the idea 

14 keen 

15 see note 1 

---

This poem describes war and its effects on the poet himself. “Dulce et decorum est

pro patria mori” actually means “How sweet and pure it is to die for one’s country”.

Owen in this poem describes how this is not at all true and that it is in no way

patriotic to die for your home land. In fact he describes this as

“The old Lie”. This is a very graphic, realistic and emotional account of the War.

In the first verse there is a description of the soldiers’ shell-shocked status and of how

all their senses are numbed. Owen recalls the jagged, impassive state of the soldiers.

The description of the fighters on the Western Front,

“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”,

contradicts the whole idea that the soldier is upright, dignified and heroic.

“Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge”,

also describes the condition of the men. The phrase “Knock-kneed”, is a good use of

alliteration to illustrate the appearance of the soldiers. Words and phrases that depict

that they are stunned are, “blood-shod” ,“lame”, “blind”, “Drunk with fatigue”.

Owen manages to keep the state of the soldiers constant throughout the first

four verses. They can only fling him into the

wagon.

Although he, and most of the others, manage to fit the gas-masks and therefore fall

silent, there was still somebody out there, shouting.

“His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”,

shows that it is so horrific that the devil would flinch at it. ”

This shows the reality that he is done for, he is already dead and the fact that nobody

can help him “In all my dreams before my helpless sight”

The helpless man throws himself at the poet,

“He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

“If in some smothering dreams” shows that these terrible images would stay with you

too if you were in his position. ” helps the reader picture that there is

someone on fire or being burned by lime, a powder used to burn dead bodies. I don’t think I would be able to stand

it, the horrific dreams, the flash backs of your friends dying beside you and yet you

could do nothing apart from go out there and die just like the so many other men.

All these quotations form a slow-moving verse, which is necessary to picture the

slow-moving soldiers.

“But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering”

This quotation “like a man on fire or lime. ”

This poem changed the way I feel about war and its effects on people and how it

destroys them, not just physically but mentally. I think this is needed to show the

adrenaline rush of the surprise, it also fits in well with the quick and exciting pace of

this verse. ”

When a candle is about to go out it makes a guttering noise as if it is dying exactly

like the man.