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One hundred years ago this month, British poet Wilfred Owen died (November 4, 1918) on the war front in France. Wilfred Owen was one of the leading poets of the First World War. (1893–1918) Owen's poetry was inspired by the horrors of the First World War. He was troubled by the dreary life in the trenches with its incessant and deafening shelling, horrifying gas attacks, and the ever-present specter of death. His poem, "Dulce et Decorum est," was an ironic interpretation of the famous line from the Roman poet Horace's "Odes" (III.2.13): "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" [It is sweet and proper to die for one's country.]. DULCE ET DECORUM EST by Wilfred Owen Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest 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 hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.— Dim, through the misty panes 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, 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, Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. According to Wikipedia: One hundred years ago this month, British poet Wilfred Owen died ... but the power of his poetry continues to touch us deeply today. guy also known as gaius