DISABLED-Wilfred Owen

Context

Written by Wilfred Owen in 1917 during the first world war

Owen fought in the war and saw the effects of war on soldiers

Owen was known for his anger and waste of war and his pity for it’s victims

Written before he was killed in action in 1918, just one week before the armistice

Written when Owen was in Craiglockhart War Hospita in Scotlnd, being treated for shell shock

Form

Free verse, irregular stanza lengths

personal and emotional

Caesura and enjambment vary the poems pace

reflects soldiers shift between pleasant memories and the anger of his present and regret of his decisions

Structure

Non-linear- switches from past and present tense

little room in the poem for a future, perhaps he doesn’t see one

Repetition- feelings of regret and loneliness

“He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark”

In this quote, Owen presents war as destructive, stripping young men of their independence, identity and hope, challenging the glorification of warfare. Firstly, the man is never named int the poem, only referred to as “he”, implying how he has lost his identity- stripped by his experiences in war.”Wheeled chair” symbolises the soldier’s loss of independence and physical ability, creating empathy as it makes the reader recognise how war has robbed him from a fulfilling life. And highlighting the devastating consequences of war as it incapacitates it’s victims.”waiting for dark” describes his passive actions, highlighting how war has infantalised him and how the soldier no longer finds joy in the day as his sense of purpose has been taken away by war. It creates a bleak, tragic atmosphere, suggesting hopelessness, he no longer has a life to look forward to. This also suggests his desire to escape his miserable reality. “dark” has ambigous meaning, suggesting rest, dark or even death, conveying how the soldier’s daily life is straining and burdening on himself as he’s stuck in a what feels like endless state of depression and regret.

“Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years”

“Why don’t they come

And put him to bed? Why don’t they come?”

Main focus of poem

highlights how war can destroy young men’s lives and leave them feeling isolated and useless