One example of oxymoron used in "Dulce et Decorum Est" is found in the poem's pivotal event--the poison gas attack that leads to the death or incapacitation of the narrator's young comrade. As the shell hits, Owen describes an "ecstasy of fumbling" as the men struggle to don their protective gas masks. Another example of oxymoron is the phrase "smothering dreams," used to ask the reader to identify with the horrific scene he has just witnessed. Finally, and perhaps most powerfully, Owen employs the oxymoron "desperate glory." He says that the men who promoted the "old lie" that dying for one's country was "sweet and proper" to young men who wanted "desperate glory" would not feel that way if they had witnessed the scene he witnessed. Nothing in this poem is glorious. The men are miserable, slogging through mud and mire, and surrounded by death on a daily basis. These oxymorons are used to help deliver this point.
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