--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If in some smothering dreams you too…" description: "\"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,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg" --- # If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the… ![“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…” quote by Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg) > “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.” [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem depicts the horrific reality of war, contrasting glorified rhetoric with brutal suffering of soldiers. **In simple terms:** War is gruesome, not glorious. Key Takeaway Recognize the true cost of conflict. Themes war suffering illusion truth humanity Mood somber reflective Type poetic anti‑war When to use this quote - military training - historical education - anti‑war activism Key Concepts combat trauma propaganda moral disillusionment Questions to Reflect On - What does the poem reveal about propaganda? - How can societies honor soldiers without glorifying war? A Different Perspective Peace advocacy ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cancer/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Decorum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decorum/) [Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) [Devil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devil/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Glory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glory/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin/) [Zest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zest/) ## Related quotes > [“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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/if-you-could-hear-at-every-jolt-the-blood-come-gargling-from-the/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [“Methought the germ of it was dead in me! Oh, Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself— sick, sin-stained,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/methought-the-germ-of-it-was-dead-in-me-oh-hester-thou-art-my-better/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [If you want to look like the people next door, you're probably smothering yourself into your dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/if-you-want-to-look-like-the-people-next-door-you-re-probably/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [The old Lie:Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/the-old-lie-dulce-et-decorum-est-pro-patria-mori/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [The middle of 'America's Women' is about the Civil War, and how women, black and white, confronted slavery and abolition. As in every other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-collins/the-middle-of-america-s-women-is-about-the-civil-war-and-how-women/) [Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-collins/) > [As for the decorum at the time of a campaign, one must be mindful that he is a samurai. A person who loves beautification…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kato-kiyomasa/as-for-the-decorum-at-the-time-of-a-campaign-one-must-be-mindful-that/) [Kato Kiyomasa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kato-kiyomasa/) > [The most disgusting cad in the world is the man who on the grounds of decorum and morality avoids the game of love. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-most-disgusting-cad-in-the-world-is-the-man-who-on-the-grounds-of/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [“The poster child for decorum was actually being sexually suggestive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgina-guthrie/the-poster-child-for-decorum-was-actually-being-sexually-suggestive/) [Georgina Guthrie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgina-guthrie/) > [Drinking can not be sacramentalised except in religions which set no store on decorum. The worship of Dionysos or the Celtic god of beer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/drinking-can-not-be-sacramentalised-except-in-religions-which-set-no/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [A man who understands decorum and the courtesies is a great treasure; I hope to train and send into society as many such men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mas-oyama/a-man-who-understands-decorum-and-the-courtesies-is-a-great-treasure/) [Mas Oyama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mas-oyama/) > [It is important that the decorum and dignity of the House is upheld at all times. The image of Parliament in the public mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pratibha-patil/it-is-important-that-the-decorum-and-dignity-of-the-house-is-upheld/) [Pratibha Patil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pratibha-patil/) > [Unsuccessful candidates for the Presidency should be quietly hanged as a matter of public sanitation and decorum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/unsuccessful-candidates-for-the-presidency-should-be-quietly-hanged/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Any girl that's in a professional setting has to have a certain amount of decorum, but there's always a different story going on, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stana-katic/any-girl-that-s-in-a-professional-setting-has-to-have-a-certain/) [Stana Katic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stana-katic/) > [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - It is a sweet and becoming thing to die for ones country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/dulce-et-decorum-est-pro-patria-mori-it-is-a-sweet-and-becoming-thing/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) ## More by Wilfred Owen > [Was it for this the clay grew tall?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/was-it-for-this-the-clay-grew-tall/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [The war effects me less than it ought. I can do no service to anybody by agitating for news or making dole over the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/the-war-effects-me-less-than-it-ought-i-can-do-no-service-to-anybody/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/escape-there-is-one-unwatched-way-your-eyes-o-beauty-keep-me-good/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/and-by-his-smile-i-knew-that-sullen-hall-by-his-dead-smile-i-knew-we/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Walking abroad, one is the admiration of all little boys, and meets an approving glance from every eye of elderly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/walking-abroad-one-is-the-admiration-of-all-little-boys-and-meets-an/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Those who, like the beasts, have no such Hope, pass their old age shrouded with an inward gloom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/those-who-like-the-beasts-have-no-such-hope-pass-their-old-age/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [The English say, Yours Truly, and mean it. The Italians say, I kiss your feet, and mean, I kick your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/the-english-say-yours-truly-and-mean-it-the-italians-say-i-kiss-your/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Ambition may be defined as the willingness to receive any number of hits on the nose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/ambition-may-be-defined-as-the-willingness-to-receive-any-number-of/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [“These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished. Memory fingers in their hair of murders Multitudinous murders they once witnessed. Wading sloughs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/these-are-men-whose-minds-the-dead-have-ravished-memory-fingers-in/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/was-it-for-this-the-clay-grew-tall-o-what-made-fatuous-sunbeams-toil/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [I was a boy when I first realized that the fullest life liveable was a Poet's](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/i-was-a-boy-when-i-first-realized-that-the-fullest-life-liveable-was/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [And some cease feeling Even themselves or for themselves. Dullness best solves The tease and doubt of shelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/and-some-cease-feeling-even-themselves-or-for-themselves-dullness/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [“Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/sleep-mothered-them-and-left-the-twilight-sad/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [After all my years of playing soldiers, and then of reading History, I have almost a mania to be in the East, to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/after-all-my-years-of-playing-soldiers-and-then-of-reading-history-i/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [My subject is war, and the pity of war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/my-subject-is-war-and-the-pity-of-war/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) [Explore all 108 Wilfred Owen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) ## More Behinds quotes > [Resist discouragement by speaking His Word over your future. 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Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) Browse all 6,789 Behinds quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wilfred Owen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-could-pace-behind-the-wagon-that/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Behinds" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-could-pace-behind-the-wagon-that/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2d0/wilfred-owen-4642_behinds_if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-cou_1445680.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white…” — Wilfred Owen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wilfred Owen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If in some smothering dreams you...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-could-pace-behind-the-wagon-that/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/if-in-some-smothering-dreams-you-too-could-pace-behind-the-wagon-that/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```