Analysing the poem Disabled

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Gerry Klein 6..0

Analysing ‘Disabled’

By Wilfred Owen

The poem is divided in to six stanzas with inconsistent number of verses. Owen uses an irregular ABAB rhyme and although there is a rhythm present in the poem, it is not held consistent in every verse however most of the verses contain 10 syllables. In the first stanza Owen talks about the life of a solder after the war and in the second stanza it switches to talking about the memories of the “old times”, in each stanza this switches in the setting is made with exception of the last stanza which breaks the pattern and also takes place after the war.




The poem is written in first person. Alliterations are used three times in this poem to highlight key ideas. In verse five the crippled soldier is longing for the pleasures of his past life as he listens to the “Voices of play and pleasure after day”. In verse nine the mention of “girls glanced” underlines the destruction of his appearance and his affect on the opposite sex, which is clearly another great loss for the soldier as it is mentioned threw out the poem. The last alliteration is in verse 1, “lifetime lapsed” this shows the idea that the soldier’s life is over. He no more can enjoy the pleasure of being cheered on by a crowd or having a lot of admiring attention as he was used to. The soldier is clearly very unhappy with his life and has nothing to look forward to, he sits alone and as shown in the first verse is “waiting for dark”. The solders life has changed extreme he is no more the popular star athlete, which he once was but rather a depressive and helpless creature. He lost his pride and spirit on the battlefield, “He’s lost his colour far from hear, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry” (verse 17-18). The loss of his colour is an under understatement for all the sacrifice which to boy has made in the war, he left his happiness and joy of life on the battlefield.

The boy enlisted to empress girls even though he was to young to go to war. This in its self is ironic, as he did not need to go to war but still did. However there is more irony the poem, this popular boy who was full of vanity failed in his attempt to receive admiration and instead lost his arm and both legs and with it his social status and attraction from the opposite sex “…Woman’s eyes passed from him to stronger men that where whole.”(verse 4-44). The word “whole” is referring not only to his physical status but also to his mental state as he feels that he has lost his man hood and is worthless. The only attention, which he now receives, is pity “and takes whatever pity they may dole” (verse 4). The poem describes a scene after a football game in which the boy seems to have made a scoring point; “After the matches, carried shoulder-high” (verse ) he is celebrated much more then when he returns from the war, “Only a solemn man who brought him fruit” (verse 8). This is also ironic, as he has sacrificed so much more in the war as he did in the football game where he merely had a “blood smear down his leg” (verse 1).

In the last two verses there is a repetition, “why don’t they come?”, this repetition ends the poem and strengthens the idea that he is now dependant on others for everything. The poem begins and ends on this topic, in the first verse his dependency on a wheelchair is mentioned and in the last two verses his needs to be put into bed by some one else. However he is forgotten and needs to wait of nurses to put him into bed. People where still interested in him when he left to war as a proud man “And soon he was drafted out with drums and cheers” (verse 6) but when he came back as a cripple no one admired him anymore, there only feeling towards him was occasional pity.

The soldier was drunk when he enlisted and did not know what he was getting himself into “And no fear of fear came yet. He thought of jewelled kilts” (verse 1-), this shows his ignorance toward war and what it is really like. When he enlisted he did not waste a thought about the consequences, he was only striving for attention. However he strongly regrets this decision afterwards and can not understand why he enlisted, “He wonders why” (verse 4).

The tone of the poem is set in the first stanza by the use of words such as ‘dark’, ‘grey’, ‘shivered’, and ‘saddening’. The picture of a isolated soldier is strong and the reader has pity for his situation. In the second stanza the mood switches dramatically to show the happy memories, there is a strong clash from this to the soldier’s present situation. From dark to light and from grey to gay. I think the poet porously made such a change in his tone to show sturdily how much misery the war can cause.

I feel that Disabled is an exceptionally well-written poem. I enjoyed that the solders personality was described very clearly; this helps the reader to develop an emotional connection to the pain and loss, which the boy suffered. William Owen did an excellent job in mentioning ideas more that once in the poem, he repeatedly came back to previously mentioned ideas. I enjoyed the thorough description and reasoning made about the development of the solders life and suffering after the war.



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