User:Tonyu0598/sandbox

My concrete poetry is inspired by “Dulce et Decorum est” (1917), which was written by Wilfred Owen. My representation of this poem is based on a silhouette of soldiers extracted from John Singer Sergeant painting “Gassed”, who are grabbing each others shoulders and were following a path because they were blinded by the toxic chlorine gas that was released by the Germans. This painting is based after the battle they lost. The painting’s main colors are: white, black, red, and gray. The alive soldiers are painted in red, which represents their British blood, warrior spirit and the will to keep fighting and die for their country regardless of losing their eyesight. The black color represents death, but it also is the dark matter with sharp edges that they have to avoid while blindly walking on the little gray pathway. The color white means that they are near perfection, purity, good times, and safety (the ceasefire). My painting has stenciled the words “dulce et decorum est… pro patria mori” which means “how sweet and decorous it is to die for one’s country”. These words reflect the men that did die for their country and for the ones that are still willing to die for it. In the painting, like the poem, the soldiers were all broken and incapacitated. This soldiers were fooled by the “old lie” as said by Wilfred Owen: that soldiers were told that to die for one’s country in its time of need is a very beautiful thing to do But really is just a lie, and there was nothing beautiful about it, you were blinded by the pride that was forced into you.