In "Dulce et Decorum Est," what does the phrase "Haunting flares" contribute to the poem?

The phrase "haunting flares" is almost an oxymoron, combining the fiery, vivid flare with the gray ghostliness of haunting. However, a flare is primarily a distress signal, and the visually contradictory phrase describes how the soldiers are haunted by the distress of war, even when they turn their backs on it.

"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem full of irony, not least in the title, where the Roman poet Horace's famous observation that it is a sweet and honorable thing to die for one's country is repeated, only to be dismissed as an "old lie." The "haunting flares" on which the soldiers turn their backs contribute to this atmosphere of uncertainty mixed with anger. The phrase is almost an oxymoron. A flare is a streak of fire cutting through the sky, only of any use if it is bright and vivid. The word "haunting," by contrast, suggests something pale and indistinct, a gray ghost hovering in the background of the scene. The primary purpose of a flare, however, is to signal distress. Even as the soldiers turn their backs on the flares, these flares symbolize the acute pain and suffering of trench warfare. They cannot entirely turn their backs, for the flares they cannot see with their eyes haunt them in their thoughts. Vivid, fiery explosions, which look like the flares, tear off the limbs of a soldier. The pain and indignity of those lost limbs haunt the soldier forever. In this way, the two halves of an uneasy phrase add both image and symbol to the poem, reinforcing the bitter contradictions of war that it exposes.

To most people, the sight of flares lighting up the night sky might be rather an exciting experience. At the very least, it would be quite a spectacle. But this is not how the soldiers in "Dulce et Decorum Est" feel. The flares provide the bleak, haunting backdrop against which the exhausted men trudge their weary way back to the trenches for some brief, fitful rest. In war, there are so many contradictions, and the "haunting flares" are a prime illustration of this. The bright light of the flares is a source of illumination, but not in a good way. It illuminates a scene of unspeakable horror and carnage, of broken men and bodies littering a muddy, blood-strewn battlefield. At least in darkness, the full horrors of war can be hidden to some extent. But the flares shine a revealing, probing light on the slaughter down below. They haunt the men because it is not possible to escape from them and the seemingly endless war they've come to represent. The soldiers' "distant rest" is distant indeed. They will never truly be at rest so long as the war continues, so long as the haunting flares shine their lurid light upon the men forced to participate in such grinding bloodshed.

The "haunting flares" you refer to in your question comes in the first stanza of this excellent war time poem and it is part of the overall description that helps create a slightly surreal theme of the horrors of war and the impact of war on the soldiers involved. Whenever you are trying to work out the meaning or the contribution of such phrases or lines, it is always important to look at them in context to see if that can help in your understanding of them. Let us do that now: 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. Note how the overall picture is one of severe exhaustion and illness. The "haunting flares" in this picture, especially through the use of the word "haunting," seem to add a definite flavour of the other-wordly, almost making the scene ghost-like as the soldiers, in their crippled, exhausted state, try to focus on heading towards the "distant rest" that awaits them.

和装饰Est中, 何词'畏缩信号'对诗有帮助?

快速回答 :

词句“炫耀照明弹”几乎成异语,结合烈火、闪耀光和灰色幽灵光弹主要是求救信号,视觉自相矛盾短语描述士兵如何因战难而纠缠,即使士兵转背时也是如此。

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专家回答

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...dulce和decorumEst写满一首诗讽刺罗马诗人Horace的著名观察重现为国死是件甜蜜和可敬的事,仅被斥为古老谎言大气层不确定性混合愤怒短语几乎oxymoron.信号弹是直达天空的火迹,只有光辉生辉才有用相形之下表示灰暗隐蔽灰鬼盘旋

信号弹的主要目的是信号遇难即使在士兵转背照明弹时,这些照明弹象征战壕剧烈痛楚他们无法完全反转,因为他们无法用眼睛看到闪光生火爆炸看起来像信号弹撕裂士兵四肢残缺四肢的痛苦与尊严永久笼罩着士兵以这种方式,难解短语的二分二加之诗像和符号,强化它所暴露的战争痛苦自相矛盾

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对大多数人来说光线照亮夜空可能相当令人振奋最起码,它会相当奇观参战者并不是这样想的耀斑提供阴暗漫漫背景疲劳者重回战壕短暂适安歇

战争中有如此多自相矛盾,耀斑光源发光但不是好方法照亮了不可言状恐怖和屠杀的场景骨折人和尸体乱丢泥沙场至少在黑暗中战争的完全恐怖在某种程度上可以隐藏光照下方屠宰纠缠人类因为他们无法逃脱和他们似乎无穷无尽的战争士兵的远眠实属遥远只要战争继续,他们永远无法真正安息,只要伏击闪光照亮被迫参加这种磨难流血的人。

继续阅读

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-dec...

经enots编辑核准

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早期诗中,诗人努力实现一种特殊情绪,而短语“炫耀信号号”有助于实现这一点。首首首诗讲道者状态

双垒打,像老乞丐打麻袋
k需求, 咳嗽像巫师, 我们诅咒通过污泥,
等到纠缠信号弹上我们转过身
面向远休眠开始转转一至四行

士兵们走来走去,满载装备和精疲力竭,像老妇人一样走来走去。他们走去泥巴和泥巴,再走远一点,直到他们最终摆脱眼前危险并真正停止休眠。情绪暗淡,阴暗!these are young men of 18, 19, 20 years old, and yet they can only "trudge" with knees knocking, gagging and hacking like a sick old woman. The flares, then, are described as "haunting," but what typically haunts? Ghosts, sad memories: nothing bright or good or hopeful. The flares are haunting for the men, perhaps because they remind them that they will face the same fate tomorrow. The realization that they must march, pressing forward no matter what, for yet another day and another and another would surely be haunting. The word choice of "haunting" contributes to the bleak mood as well as gives us a glimpse into the mind of a soldier in this position. The "haunting flares" seem to symbolize the haunting knowledge that this dismal reality will be the soldiers' own for a long time.

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