Rate-a-Poem: Dulce et Decorum Est

By Wilfred Owen
1893-1918
(Killed in World War 1)

Dulce et Decorum Est

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 disappointed shells that dropped 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 floundering 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,
Obscene as cancer, 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.*

*"It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country." (Horace)

the plot thickens:

you're absolutely correct in your memory of the different line. the bedford introduction to literature actually has the line in question as:

Of gas shells dropping softly behind.

the version referenced above is from the emory university department of english's site:

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Dulce.html

and, of course, has the line as:

Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
the line you quote:

Of tired outstripped five-nines that dropped behind.

is, to the best of my knowledge, the original line by owen. most scholars agree that the changes were made to appeal to a wider audience who may not recognize the lingo of "five-nines" - 5.9" artillery shells that were used to fire gas.

great call.