Poem Title Idea/s

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young The deaths of young men in the war are unnecessary, against Christian ethics and contrary to the will of God. Those in authority have the power to end the war but are too proud to do so. Does not use a traditional poetic form, although it resembles a sonnet. A fourteen line first stanza and a rhyming couplet at the end. The poem does not adhere to a traditional structure, reinforcing Owens idea that the world is out of order. Loosely uses blank verse (ten syllables per line)

Anthem for Doomed Youth The deaths of young men in the war are unnatural and dehumanising. The poem also explores the grief of families and lovers who have lost someone.

Dulce Et Decorum Est If you could personally witness the horror of death on the front, you would abandon the traditional patriotic ideas about the nobility of dying for your country. Does not use a traditional poetic form.

Futility The tragedy of a young mans death. The poem suggests that creation or the evolution of life was futile if young lives are being destroyed in the war.

Disabled The ongoing suffering of young men who volunteered to fight in the war and are now disabled. The lack of care or respect shown to these men now they have lost their youth and their health.

Mental Cases Those involved in the war are responsible for the psychological suffering of soldiers with shell shock.

Form

Sonnet

Takes the form of a short elegiac lyric the length of a sonnet though not structured as one. Two seven line stanzas. A regular rhyme scheme, however Owen uses pararhyme or partial rhyme.

Does not use a traditional poetic form.

Does not use a traditional poetic form.

Structure

Metre (Rhythm)

Octave eight lines Sestet six lines The poem uses a traditional structure, however the poems theme is very different to a traditional sonnet. Loosely uses iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) The poem juxtaposes the ritual of a traditional funeral with the horror of death on the front. A series of images from a funeral are contrasted with guns, shells and the pale faces of grieving lovers . The final image is a drawing-down of blinds Personification the stuttering rifles rapid rattle, The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells Onomatopoeia - the stuttering rifles rapid rattle Repetition of only, no and not emphasises the way the young men have been denied a respectful death

Four irregular stanzas

Irregular stanza length and rhyme scheme

Does not have a rhyme scheme

Loosely uses iambic pentameter

Eight syllables per line, however the first and last lines of each stanza are shorter, six syllables. A still warm body being dragged into the sun. The sun waking that man in the past, and waking life on Earth.

Iambic pentameter ten syllables per line

trochaic metre (stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable) creates a falling rhythm, depressed and heavy Describes the horrific scenes which have caused posttraumatic stress disorder, and the physical changes in the soldiers themselves.

Imagery

Combines the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac with imagery from the front parapets and trenches.

Other poetic techniques

Appropriation Owen uses much of the Bible narrative directly in order to create his own version. Exclamation When lo! An angel called him out of heaven Symbolisim Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. government and military leaders are unwilling to sacrifice their pride and are choosing to kill their own sons.

Exhausted soldiers marching at the end of the day like old beggars under sack A man choking on poisonous gas and dying. He is thrown on a wagon the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs Personification haunting flares, tired, outstripped Five-Nines Simile like old beggars under sacks, like a devils sick of sin

The first stanza introduces a soldier who is in a wheeled chair as he has lost his limbs. Subsequent stanzas describe his life before the war.

Imperative commands Move him into the sun, Think how it wakes the seeds challenges the reader to feel involved in the situation. Personification the sun whispering of fields unsown represents the peaceful life the soldier lived before the war. Symbolism the unsown field represents the unfulfilled life of the dead soldier

Sensory imagery he will never feel again how slim/ Girls waists are, or how warm their subtle hands The warm contact he had experienced is contrasted with the present All of them touch him like some queer disease Rhetorical questions are used in the final stanza to express the hopelessness and abandonment the disabled soldier feels Why dont they come? The use of a third person perspective gives the questions a broader implication Owen himself wants to

Symbolism - "purgatorial shadows", "twilight" these men are stuck between life and death. Personification Memory fingers in their hair of murders they are tortured by their memories Blood imagery treading blood from lungs, "Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes blood-back", dawn is like a wound that bleeds afresh" - their world is unnatural and gruesome First person plural Pawing us who dealt them war and madness the reader is invited to share the responsibility for their

know why this man has been neglected.

suffering.