Skip to main content

Recount the events of war from "Dulce et Decorum Est."

In the poem, the speaker recounts marching while carrying the weight of a heavy pack, so heavy it nearly bent him in half. Cold, coughing, and cursing, the men would trudge through sludge until they felt as though they were falling asleep as they walked.  Often, they'd lose their boots in the muck, but they had to keep going though their feet were bloodied. They were utterly exhausted.


The speaker recalls one time that the enemy dropped chlorine gas on them, and everyone struggled to fit their gas masks on, but one man didn't get his in place fast enough.  The gas burned his lungs and he began to die, which the narrator could see through the misty panes of his gas mask.  The speaker dreams about that man, the way he stumbled toward the speaker, choking on the froth coming up from his lungs. They put his body in a wagon, where the speaker could see his face as the men walked behind -- it would take some while for this man to die, and meanwhile he would be in terrible pain -- his eyes rolling, his mouth gargling.  This is what the speaker remembers of war.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more