disabled poem analysis essay

Disabled Summary & Analysis by Wilfred Owen

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"Disabled" was written by Wilfred Owen, one of the most famous British poets to emerge from World War I. The poem focuses on an injured soldier in the aftermath of that very same war. Still quite young, the man feels old and depends on others for virtually everything, having lost his legs and parts of his arms in battle. Reflecting on his decision to go to war, the poem shows the horror of the conflict and suggests that many young men didn't really know what they were getting themselves into when they first enlisted. The poem was first published in 1920; Owen, however, didn't live to see this, as he was killed in action one week before the war ended.

• Read the full text of “Disabled”

The Full Text of “Disabled”

1 He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,

2 And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,

3 Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park

4 Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,

5 Voices of play and pleasure after day,

6 Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

                            *        *        *        *        *

7 About this time Town used to swing so gay

8 When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees,

9 And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,—

10 In the old times, before he threw away his knees.

11 Now he will never feel again how slim

12 Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,

13 All of them touch him like some queer disease.

14 There was an artist silly for his face,

15 For it was younger than his youth, last year.

16 Now, he is old; his back will never brace;

17 He's lost his colour very far from here,

18 Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,

19 And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race

20 And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

21 One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,

22 After the matches carried shoulder-high.

23 It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,

24 He thought he'd better join. He wonders why.

25 Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.

26 That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

27 Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,

28 He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;

29 Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.

30 Germans he scarcely thought of, all their guilt,

31 And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears

32 Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts

33 For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;

34 And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;

35 Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.

36 And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

37 Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

38 Only a solemn man who brought him fruits

39 Thanked  him; and then inquired about his soul.

40 Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,

41 And do what things the rules consider wise,

42 And take whatever pity they may dole.

43 Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes

44 Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.

45 How cold and late it is! Why don't they come

46 And put him into bed? Why don't they come?

“Disabled” Summary

“disabled” themes.

The Tragedy of War

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

The Glorification and Disillusionment of War

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “disabled”.

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow.

Through the park Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, Voices of play and pleasure after day, Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees, And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,— In the old times, before he threw away his knees.

Lines 11-13

Now he will never feel again how slim Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, All of them touch him like some queer disease.

Lines 14-16

There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now, he is old; his back will never brace;

Lines 17-20

He's lost his colour very far from here, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

Lines 21-24

One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg, After the matches carried shoulder-high. It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg, He thought he'd better join. He wonders why.

Lines 25-29

Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts. That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts, He asked to join. He didn't have to beg; Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.

Lines 30-36

Germans he scarcely thought of, all their guilt, And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes; And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears; Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits. And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Lines 37-39

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal. Only a solemn man who brought him fruits Thanked  him; and then inquired about his soul.

Lines 40-44

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes, And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole. Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.

Lines 45-46

How cold and late it is! Why don't they come And put him into bed? Why don't they come?

“Disabled” Symbols

Darkness and Night

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Disabled” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

End-Stopped Line

Juxtaposition, polysyndeton, rhetorical question, “disabled” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Giddy Jilts
• Care of Arms
• Pay Arrears
• Esprit de Corps
• Drafted Out
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Disabled”

Rhyme scheme, “disabled” speaker, “disabled” setting, literary and historical context of “disabled”, more “disabled” resources, external resources.

Poems in Response to Owen — A BBC show in which three contemporary poets respond to Wilfred Owen's poetry. 

Learn More About War Poetry — A series of podcast documentaries from the University of Oxford about various aspects of World War I poetry, including some excellent material specifically about Wilfred Owen.  

More Poems and Bio — A valuable resource of Owen's other poetry, and a look at his life. 

The Poem Out Loud — A reading by Youtuber Tom O'Bedlam.  

Bringing WWI to Life — In this clip, director Peter Jackson discusses his recent WWI film, They Shall Not Grow Old. Though technology, Jackson brings old war footage to vivid life, restoring a sense of the soldiers as actual people.  

Post-War Life — A short clip examining the treatment of returning WW1 soldiers. 

LitCharts on Other Poems by Wilfred Owen

Anthem for Doomed Youth

Dulce et Decorum Est

Mental Cases

Spring Offensive

Strange Meeting

The Next War

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Disabled, Wilfred Owen Poem Analysis/Annotations

• December 17, 2018

Disabled, Wilfred Owen

FULL POEM - SCROLL DOWN FOR LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS​

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, Voices of play and pleasure after day, Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim, —In the old times, before he threw away his knees. Now he will never feel again how slim Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now he is old; his back will never brace; He’s lost his colour very far from here, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,And leap of purple spurted from his thigh. One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg, After the matches carried shoulder-high. It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg, He thought he’d better join. He wonders why . . . Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts.

That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts, He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg; Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years. Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes; And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears; Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits. And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal. Only a solemn man who brought him fruits Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul. Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes, And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole. To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole. How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

SUMMARY/ANALYSIS

The poem ‘Disabled’ poignantly portrays the physical and psychological trauma suffered by a young man enlisted to fight for Britain in World War One. Wilfred Owen highlights the extent of this trauma by comparing the man’s post-war life of misery to his jubilant youth, in conjunction with literary techniques including juxtapositions and dark, depressing metaphors.

LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,

The dark is a metaphor for death, Owen describes this man’s life as so useless and futile that death seems like a relief among the monotony of life.

And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,

Shivered adds a sense of vulnerability and weakness to the man. Ghastly suit of grey is a dark, menacing use of imagery. The colour grey is very often used as imagery for death in literature.

Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park

Sewn short at the elbow takes us vividly back to the aftermath of the man’s injury and portrays a cumbersome ambulance service on the front line of World War I, as “sewn” doesn’t sound very professional or meticulous.

Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,

The boys’ voices remind him of what he’s lost. The word hymn adds religious connotations, Owen’s way of bringing into question the existence of God amongst the pain and anguish of war.

Voices of play and pleasure after day,

The repetition of the ‘pl’ sound in play and pleasure adds a sense of rhythm, showing the man engaging in a sense of nostalgia for a second. The caesura at the end of the line represents a pause in his thoughts and brings him back down to earth.

Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him

Sleep here is personified either as giving the man relief and ‘mothering’ him from his torment or taking away the pleasure he finds in nostalgia in a cruel juxtaposition.

About this time Town used to swing so gay

The capitalisation of ‘Town’ suggests that the phenomenon of naive conscription and men returning physically and mentally disfigured was widespread in war-time Britain.

When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees

‘Budded’ creates an image of flowers, synonymous with new life. This is a metaphor for the youthfulness of the men before they went to war. Light-blue is a soft, peaceful image that juxtaposes the use of grey in the previous stanza.

And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,

The alliteration of girls glanced emphasises the excitement of flirtation that the man used to experience, making his current state even more harrowing.

—In the old times, before he threw away his knees.

Owen implies that the man was in some way responsible for his injuries. ‘Threw away’ sounds careless, which Owen links to his carelessness and naivety when enlisting.

Now he will never feel again how slim

His former lovers, who may have motivated him to enlist, have rejected him.

Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands,

The warmth of their hands implies life which contrasts the man ‘shivering in his ghastly suit of grey’ and shows the humanity he’s lost.

All of them touch him like some queer disease.

Women don’t respect his service like he thought they would but instead treat him like an unnatural, inhumane ‘queer disease’.

There was an artist silly for his face,

Implies that the man used to be very attractive. The word ‘silly’ suggests a general absurdity during this time, an atmosphere which motivated him to enlist.

For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now he is old; his back will never brace;

‘Now’ acts as a temporal marker taking the reader back to the present and definitively putting an end to his former happier life. Owen is comparing the redundancy that war has led his life to become to old age.

He’s lost his colour very far from here,

The colour that he has lost is a metaphor for the life that has been drained from him. The imagery of colour also relates to the artist that painted him in his youth, and now his colour is gone she is no longer “silly for his face”.

Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,

Shell-holes paints a vivid picture of the battlefield, plunging us into the action for the first time.

And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race,

War has taken his life and vitality away from him

And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

The colour purple signifies energy and vigour, the verb spurted adds a sense of reaching a climax. Purple has connotations with royalty and this use of imagery could be mocking the romanticism of war and the notion of ‘doing it for your country’.

One time he liked a bloodsmear down his leg,

The sight of blood was a trophy and a symbol of masculinity, but the injuries he’s suffered are far from a trophy, instead something to be ashamed of.

After the matches carried shoulder-high.

The extent to which he was celebrated after just a game is ironic as after the seriousness of war he’s not celebrated but instead isolated and seen as a queer disease. It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg,

The adrenaline, alcohol that made him enlist. It wasn’t a rational decision.

He thought he’d better join. He wonders why . . .

The short sentences show his impulsiveness and the fact he failed to think it through fully. The ellipsis illustrates how he can’t find any sound reason with hindsight, other than vanity, that motivated him to enlist.

Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts.

Paints a romanticised and naive view of the war in early-war Britain. It is this misconception that leads to many young men signing up.

That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

Please his Meg describes how women of the time encouraged their husbands or boyfriends to fight. The grammatical complexity and use of punctuation, add a tone of turbulence which represent the man’s choking emotions.

Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,

A ‘Jilt’ is a person, especially a woman, who capriciously (describes the women as impulsive and unpredictable) rejects a lover. Giddy is almost mocking the women, showing their ridiculousness.

He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg;

The authorities don’t ask questions, they don’t care who, the man’s youth is not a barrier.

Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.

The man was actually too young to enlist, the authorities were ‘smiling’ as they wrote down his false age, almost sadistically as they know war won’t be what he’s imagined. Owen paints an evil picture of these authorities, gleeful in ruining yet more youth and innocence.

Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears

Naivety, he’s thought more about kilts than the opposition and dangers of war.

Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts

‘Fear’ is capitalised to personify the Germans.

For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;

The imagery of the idealised war shows how impressionable the man was in the face of propaganda.

And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;

The repetition of the conjuncture ‘and’ is polysyndeton which forms this a synthetic list, which shows his excitement for war and the extent of his naivety and corrupted misconception.

Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.

French for ‘spirit of the body’, hints at another motivation for him to enlist, he thought it would offer him the same sense of camaraderie he got from football matches.

And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

He was cheered out to war in a wave of excitement.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

Contrasts with everyone cheering him off when he left and when he played football. Fighting for his country has diminished the respect and attention he once received.

Only a solemn man who brought him fruits

A solemn man is tied to religion so could be a priest and is the only person there for him, ‘fruits’ could be linked to the fruits of the man’s labour and his sacrifice.

Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.

Owen is reminding us that war hasn’t just shattered him physically but psychologically too.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,

A ‘few sick years’ is a very flippant use of language and illustrates the lack of meaning in his life now.

And do what things the rules consider wise,

This is a reference to the unsympathetic nature of the system. Owen continues to slate the system, it got him into this place and is not supportive of his current state.

And take whatever pity they may dole.

Dole describes the pity being shared out, hence, objectifies it and taking away the emotion and empathy of it as a result.

To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.

Men that were ‘whole’ implies he has lost his masculinity due to his injuries. The women now are revolted by him and look to the young men who ‘dodged the bullet’ of war.

How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come

Puts the reader inside the man’s head, making his desperation more poignant.

And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

The repetition of rhetorical questions hints at an element of insanity and desperation in the man. The rhetorical questions could also be seen as a euphemism for the man crying out to die and be relieved from the torture of his life.

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Introduction

Wilfred Owen’s “Disabled” tells the poignant story of an injured soldier who “threw away his knees” on the battlefield and is now hospitalised in his “wheeled chair”, listening to the distant “voices of play and pleasure” coming from the “park” where he was once “carried high” for scoring a goal in a football match. He is left “waiting for dark” when the nurses will lift him into bed so he can sleep.

The poem laments the innocence of the young boys who naively went off to fight for their country only to discover the true horror of war in the “shell-holes” of France.

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, Voices of play and pleasure after day, Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees, And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim, – In the old times, before he threw away his knees. Now he will never feel again how slim Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands. All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now, he is old; his back will never brace; He’s lost his colour very far from here, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

One time he liked a blood- smear down his leg, After the matches, carried shoulder-high. It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg, He thought he’d better join. – He wonders why. Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts, That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg; Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years. Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt, And Austria’s, did not move him. And no fears Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes; And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears; Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits. And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal. Only a solemn man who brought him fruits Thanked him; and then enquired about his soul.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes, And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole. Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole. How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

The title focuses the reader’s attention towards the young soldier’s horrific physical injuries. He needs to sit in a “wheeled chair” because he lost his legs and forearms fighting on the front line. The reference to his “legless” body is particularly shocking. Owen highlights the word by placing it at the start of the line and the inventive use the negative suffix.

This horrible image is immediately followed by the description of his arms “sewn short at the elbow”. The violence of the verb “sewn” is disturbing and suggests the surgeons were unable to stop the “leap of purple” when it “squirted from his thigh” so they had to amputate. The poet emphasises the image through the use of alliteration in “sewn short” and by stressing both of the syllables.

The reader is reminded of his appalling injuries in the second verse when we are told “he threw away his knees”. Of course, the nonchalance of the verb “threw” is a criticism of the futility of war, but the phrase is also very shocking.

The young soldier, who “lied” that he was “aged nineteen years”, is now “old” and “his back will never brace”. With his broken back and loss of limbs, he needs the nurses to help him into bed.

There is no doubt that Owen’s vivid depiction of the “disabled” soldier exposes the brutal reality of warfare.

In The Old Times

Throughout the poem, Wilfred Owen juxtaposes images of the soldier before and after his life-changing injuries. By creating such dramatic contrasts, the poet demonstrates the awful horror of war and its terrible impact on the “young recruits” who were “drafted out with drums and cheers”.

References to the soldier being lifted is perhaps the most distressing contrast. In the fourth verse, there is the triumphant image of him being “carried shoulder high” by his teammates and spectators after their victory. Then, at the end of poem, he waits quietly for the nurses to carry him to bed. They lifted him to celebrate a goal but not to let him sleep. He has now been forgotten and abandoned.

Another disturbing example of antithesis is the contrast in aural imagery. In the first verse, there are the “voices of boys” and “voices of play and pleasure” coming “through the park”. Owen emphasises the noisy joy through the repetition of “voices”, the alliteration of /p/ in “play” and “pleasure”, and the child-like rhythm created by the internal rhyme of “play” and “day”. In the fourth verse, there are also the loud “drums and cheers” when the soldiers are being marched off to war.

In contrast to the exuberant noise of the past, the valiant soldier is now alone in the hospital, sitting in silence and waiting for the nurses to come. He used to be surrounded by the comradery of his teammates and the “Esprit de corps” of the army, but now he is alone.

In the second verse, e are told the soldier “will never feel again how slim / Girls’ waists are”. It seems he was friendly and flirty with the girls, especially when they “glanced lovelier as the air grew dim”. By contrast, they now “touch him like some queer disease”. Their grim curiosity adds yet another heartache to his situation, but he is so lonely he will “take whatever pity they may dole”.

In the second line, Owen mentions how the soldier “shivered” and the penultimate line refers to the “cold” hospital. He is trembling because it is cold but also because he is scared. This bleak outlook contrasts with the excitement of holding the girls’ “warm” and “subtle hands”.

The soldier’s clothing offers another interesting contrast. In the hospital, he is dressed in a “ghastly suit of grey”. This dreadful colour, emphasised by the alliteration of the hard /g/, is very different to the wonderful colour of the “kilts” and “plaid socks” he wore in the army. As the poem states, he “lost his colour”. He used to be “younger than his youth”, but now he is “old” and “grey”.

His life has changed from the laws of football and “smart salutes” of the army, to the “rules” he has to follow in the “institutions”.

Of course, there is also the bitter contrast between the Scottish soldier being “cheered home” having been seriously injured “very far from here”. It is incredibly sad that he fought in a foreign land against an enemy “he scarcely thought of”.

Owen presents all of these changes to the soldier’s life to show the reader the disgraceful destruction and misery caused by war.

The sickening description of the soldier’s trauma is in stark contrast to the physical strength he had “in the old times” before he walked into the conscription office and volunteered to fight. This vigour is epitomised by the image of him being “carried shoulder high” after a football game. It seems he was the much-admired hero of the match and scored the winning goal.

Owen echoes this image of celebration in the penultimate verse when he describes how some people “cheered him home” from the war “but not as crowds cheer Goal.” There is no longer any sense of victory.

The soldier was also attractive looking. This is made clear at the start of the third verse when the speaker mentions that “there was an artist silly for his face” because “it was younger than his youth”. There was a time when he was physically close to girls but now “he will never feel again how slim girls’ waists are”.

Sadly, he “lost his colour” and vitality in the battlefields of France.

Sitting in his “wheeled chair” and listening to the “voices of boys” coming from the “park”, the soldier “wonders why” he joined the army. We are told it was “after football” and he had “drunk a peg” when he made the decision to enlist.

The young soldier was ignorant of the global politics that led to the war. He “scarcely thought of” the Germans and their “guilt”, and the Austrians “did not move him”.

Instead of patriotic enthusiasm or any moral imperative, he volunteered to “please his Meg”. He believed he would “look a god in kilts” with “jewelled hilts” and “daggers in plaid socks”. The wonderful dress and colours of the Scottish regiments appealed to his vanity rather than a sense of duty.

Unfortunately, he thought the war was going to be just like a game of football.

Narrative Voice and Context

Focusing firmly on the injured soldier and his desperate situation, “Disabled” seems to be written as a third-person narrative. The very first word is the third-person pronoun “he”, which is then repeated throughout the story along with the variations “him” and “his”.

However, there are several moments when the tone shifts into a different point of view. For example, consider the following three lines from the middle of the fourth verse:

“That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts, He asked to join.”

After suggesting the soldier enlisted because of the elation he felt winning a football match and celebrating with a shot of whiskey, the speculative adverb “maybe” and the assertive phrase “that was it” create a more conversational tone with the reader.

The adverb “aye” is certainly more typical of a first-person perspective or a self-conscious narrator.

This interpretation is reinforced by the final two lines of the poem:

“How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?”

The exclamative, written in the present tense, suddenly positions the reader in the “cold” hospital as if we have been watching him sitting in his wheelchair. In fact, the speaker could be another veteran who is showing us the anguish of the “disabled” soldier.

Importantly, Wilfred Owen was  caught in the blast of a mortar bomb, left unconscious and, subsequently, suffered serious shell-shock. He was sent to  Craiglockhart War Hospital  to recuperate. It was a specialist institution which treated officers until they were, in Owen’s words, “dangerously well” enough to return to the front lines. This is where he wrote “Disabled”. Stressing the importance of this particular poem, he even considered calling his new collection “Disabled and Other Poems”.

In this way, the poet could be pleading directly to the public to not ignore the true horror of war and the personal suffering of each and every soldier who was fighting.

The two interrogatives and use of repetition at the end of the poem do create a devastating tone of despair and sadness which evokes a tremendous amount of sympathy from the reader.

Comprehension Questions

• Look through the first six lines of this poem. Describe the young man’s injuries?
• In line five, the “voices of play” are the voices of children playing in the park. What would the disabled soldier be thinking as he heard them play?
• What impression of the young man is created in lines 7 – 10?
• In your own words, describe how do girls treat the young man?
• Look at line twenty-two. Before this young man entered the army he enjoyed football. Why would he be carried shoulder-high after a match?
• Which word in line twenty-five tell us that this young man joined a Scottish regiment?
• What lie did he tell in line 29?
• How did the young man feel during his army training?
• What sort of welcome did the young man receive when he returned?
• Where will the young man live for the next “few sick years”?
• Why does Wilfred Owen repeat the phrase “why don’t they come”?
• Write a paragraph describing the thoughts which go through this young man’s mind as he waits for the nurses to take him in and put him into bed.

Point Example Explanation (1)

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Mental Cases

Anthem for Doomed Youth

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‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE Analysis

The poem ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen is currently taught on the Edexcel GCSE/IGCSE English Language Paper 2 curriculum. It is one of the 10 prose and poetry anthology texts which students answer on for Question 1. This complete ‘Disabled‘ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE analysis comes in a cohesive poetry unit. It includes a line-by-line annotated text, quiz questions with an answer key, a mind mapping planning activity, rubric and exemplar full mark answer.

‘Disabled’ by Wildred Owen tells the harrowing tale of a young man injured whilst fighting in World War One. Having his limbs amputated has left him reliant on others for his every need. Through various contrasts, Owen portrays this man’s life before the war as a partying, popular footballer to his bleak and depressing present circumstances. He criticises the army’s methods of enlisting teenage boys and gives a scathing message about the futility of war.

Owen uses irony to depict his critical message about war; but how can we support students to capture that in their exam essays? How can we break it down to consider not only the tragic story of one soldier, but the wider messages about military recruitment tactics?

‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE Analysis in a Scheme of Work

I’ve created a scheme of work for busy teachers to take your students step-by-step through the poem. It contains everything from an engaging, thought-provoking starter, to identifying literary techniques, to analysing and annotating the poem, to practising the Question 1 30-marker. This resource contains editable Google slides, quizzes with answer keys, sample exam questions, example exam answers and close textual annotations of the whole GCSE poem. All activities are ready to download and print in PDF form or there are links for you to personalise them if you wish.

Edexcel IGCSE English Language Exam Paper 2

The 1 hour 30 minutes Edexcel IGCSE English Language Paper 2 exam is split into Section A and Section B. Section A is the reading assessment and candidates are presented with one of the 10 prose and poetry anthology texts. The prose texts are between 1.5 and 3.5 pages long and the poems are approximately 1 page. They have 1 30-mark question to answer, which is usually based on a broad theme from the selected text, such as death, strong emotions, sympathy or conflict. Candidates are provided with 3 bullet points which give guidance as to what to include in the response.

Section B is an imaginative writing assessment. Candidates choose between three options, which are normally loosely based on the Section A text.

• Question 2 tends to be a personal question. For example, write about a time you overcame a challenge. The response can be real or imagined.
• Question 3 tends to give the title of a story, and candidates are required to write the story.
• Question 4 usually provides a set of 2-3 images which students may use as a stimulus to write a story.

Edexcel ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen Analysis and Resources

To introduce the poem ‘Disabled‘,  I give students some World War One propaganda posters to look at in pairs or small groups. I ask them to consider the messages of the posters, who they are aimed at, and the persuasive techniques used. I then hold a quick class discussion to ascertain how much they know about the time period and propaganda. Next, I discuss the contrast between the reality of war and what is portrayed in the posters. Time-permitting and if students are interested, you could view some videos about war propaganda . You could set this as extension work or homework if you wish.

‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE Literary Devices

Before diving into the text, I quickly review key language techniques in the poem so that they are fresh in students’ minds as they read . A matching activity is included in this resource . Students match the definition and technique, which they can either copy, cut and paste or simply number. As an extension, students can write their own examples of the techniques. There are also terms related to World War One with this unit, so that students can be specific in their analysis. Moreover, this is a useful revision tool for and any GCSE poetry exam. When they know the language techniques implicitly, they naturally refer to them in their analysis and their marks improve.

‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE line-by-line analysis

Before close textual analysis, I often ask students to do an initial reading or simply listen to the poem for the tone and literal reading. It is a fairly straightforward poem for students to understand on a surface level – a description of a tragic war injury. The challenge comes in unpacking how Owen presents the contrast between pre-and-post war, the emphasis on the timeframe and the ironic criticism of the army’s recruitment tactics and propaganda.    

When it comes to closely analysing the lines of the poem, there are a few ways of approaching the activity. You can read and annotate together with students completing the annotations in real time. Alternatively, you can split students into groups and ask each group to focus on a certain number of lines before feeding back to the class. Or you could read and discuss, then ask students to complete the annotations for homework.

There are many ways of approaching close textual analysis; I find that varying the method for different texts keeps students interested through the unit. For poems specifically, I tend to do annotations as a class activity as poetry can be more abstract and harder for students to grasp than prose texts. This ‘Disabled’ scheme of work contains detailed line-by-line annotations of the whole poem.

Edexcel ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE Quiz with Answer Key

After analysing the poem, I do a quick AFL quiz with students to assess their understanding of the language and structure of the poem, then introduce exam practice questions. Quiz questions for a straightforward low stakes multiple choice quiz with answers are available on the slides and in PDF form with this resource. Depending on your time and the nature of your class, you can do this as a whole class activity on the interactive whiteboard or hand out to students to do in pairs or individually.

‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen Edexcel Practice Exam Questions

Question 1 on the IGCSE English Language Paper 2 exam is a 30-mark question on one of the 10 anthology prose and poetry texts. You can find them in Part 2 of the anthology. Although it is 1 question, it is quite high stakes as students don’t have anywhere to hide; they must perform on this question. I reinforce to them that they must know all 10 of the texts very well to write a detailed essay on just one of them in the exam.

In this ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen GCSE poetry unit , there is a rubric, paragraph structure and sorting activity so that students can see how to write a cohesive analytical paragraph. This is a useful way to ease hesitant students into writing a full analysis of the poem ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen.

For the question 1 past paper prompt, firstly, take students through the rubric so that they familiarise themselves with how the response is awarded. Then, you can take students through the example PETER paragraph (point, evidence, technique, explain, refer). If you wish, you can ask them to order the parts of the example paragraph, so they grapple with the concept of a cohesive paragraph. This way, there are scaffolds in place to support students to produce high quality responses and you can demonstrate how the paragraph hits the mark scheme pointers, such as exploring techniques and use of vocabulary for effect. It also directly links to the question, which is something examiners look for.  

‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen Analytical Mind Mapping Activity

Students often struggle to plan their ideas; they are left wondering; how do I start? What do I write and in what order? A mind map is a good tool for students to revise the texts, but also produce a cohesive analysis and plan out their ideas so that they avoid repetition.

I have included an example of a mind map in this ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen poem analysis and GCSE unit of study. I split the poem into pre-war, during the war and post-war. Students can then make notes for each of these sections. Then, they can use colours, notes, diagrams or images (however their brain works) to connect and order their ideas.

Edexcel ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen IGCSE Exemplar Analytical Essay

Included in this ‘Disabled‘ IGCSE poetry scheme of work, I have provided a full-mark example answer for the Question 1 30-marker. I find it the most effective to ask students to have a go at answering first, do some peer or teacher marking of their answers, then present them with the full-mark response. Often, I find if students achieve a mark they are unhappy with, they ask ‘what do I have to do to increase my mark?’ Or, they might say ‘how do I make it better?’ These are great questions as it shows engagement with the improvement process. This is when providing them with an exemplar analytical essay can help them ‘see’ exactly how to plug the gaps in their own response.

There are examiner’s comments in the notes section of the presentation about this response. Essentially, to be awarded full marks, there should be evidence of perceptive analysis. I explain to students that the answer goes beyond ‘obvious’ points and draws out the writer’s range of feelings and connection to the reader’s reaction. Consider whether the writer changes their perspective and how language and structure interconnect for effect. For example, a long syndetic list can also contain strong, emotive verbs. Quotations must be relevant to the points made for a student to fall in the top band of the mark scheme, and multiple quotations should be used through the response.

Edexcel GCSE English Language Imaginative Writing Practice

There are also a couple of creative activities included in this resource. Time-permitting, this is an excellent text to base a creative or transactional writing piece around. You could have the students write an article or a letter based on the text. This can help develop skills required for Section B of Paper 1 (Transactional Writing) and Section B of Paper 2 (Imaginative Writing), whilst increasing their engagement with the poem ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen.

Edexcel GCSE Poetry Teaching, Learning and Revision

To sum up, some of the best techniques for teaching the 10 prose and poetry texts include:

• Hook students with an intriguing starter activity
• Use alternative methods to closely analyse and annotate the text
• Quiz students for quick AFL strategy to assess whether they are engaging with the text
• Practise past paper questions
• Study model answers, including examples of typical mistakes students make in the exam responses
• Offer an optional creative activity as homework or an extension to challenge students’ perceptions of the text

Good luck teaching ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen. It’s a bleak, but eye-opening poem rich with literary devices that students can use in their exam responses. Comment below if you can add any useful teaching and learning techniques for this text.

Other Useful Edexcel IGCSE Resources

If you enjoyed this article about teaching ‘Disabled’, you might also find value in my Edexcel IGCSE Paper 2 guides and resources for ‘Out, out-‘. There are also Edexcel IGCSE English Language Paper 1 guides and schemes of work for many of the set texts, including The Danger of a Single Story and A Passage to Africa on the blog. Follow my store for more as resources are constantly being added.

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Disabled by Wilfred Owen: poem analysis

• wilfred-owen

This is an analysis of the poem Disabled that begins with:

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, ... full text

More information about poems by Wilfred Owen

• Analysis of Anthem For Doomed Youth
• Analysis of Dulce Et Decorum Est
• Analysis of Roundel

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“Disabled” by Wilfred Owen Essay

Introduction, works cited.

The disabled poem was written in 1917 and it was an expression of feelings and thoughts of a young soldier who left for World War when he was nineteen years old only. After coming from the war, the young soldier felt disappointed by the reaction from the people.

He seems to have thought that the people would appreciate him as a hero because he had gone to war but now they just appear to look at him with pity because he came back disabled from the war. This paper will look at the disabilities of the young man and those of the society at large.

The young soldier is portrayed as being bitter towards the army Generals “Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years” (S3 l8). The young soldier in the poem felt that the army personnel and the society at large were aware of the potential dangers that he could face in the war but they still encouraged him to enter the army so that he could supposedly serve his country. The soldier did not have to beg the army personnel so that he could join were already in need of many soldiers (S3 l7).

The young man expresses what he feels was betrayal that the society had been happy when he joined the war so that he could go and represent his country, yet they did not seem as pleased when he came back from the war because he was now disabled. The young man expresses that when he came back, there were individuals who cheered for him, but it was the same kind of cheer that is given to a victor such as someone who cheers a goal (S 4 l1).

When the young soldier joined the army, the people in the society appeared to be very pleased as they cheered him on and played drums (S3 l6). This cheerful reaction that he got before he went to the war when he was not disabled is in contrast to the kind of reaction that he got when he came back home disabled and all that he got was a few cheers and a formal and dignified man who did not appear cheerful came to receive him and gave him fruits.

The man who brought him fruits also asked about his soul and gave him thanks (s4 l3). This portrays the society as being disabled in terms of not knowing how to give a warm reception to soldiers that came from the war being disabled. Instead of being positive and welcoming to the soldiers for having lost their limbs in their course of fighting for their country, the soldiers are portrayed as being pitied and even shown hopelessness.

This leaves the reader feeling sympathy for the soldiers because they gave their youth for the society but what they get in return for giving up their youth on behalf of the society is pity and rejection. The society is disabled in terms of not being totally prepared and equipped to prepare the young soldiers for what might happen in the war like the loss of limbs that could leave the soldiers disabled. Instead, only the positive side of the war is talked about (Kendall 118).

The young soldier talks about how someone told him that he would look good in the army uniform, and he also thought that he could impress the women when he joined the war probably because they would think that he was brave (s3 l6,7). People in the society had encouraged him and cheered him to join the war but now he wondered why he had joined in the first place.

The young men who were living for the war were encouraged to have a team spirit and they were reminded of the pay arrears that they would get after they were drafted to join the war (S3 15). The now disabled soldier knew that he would have to spend the rest of his life in institutions where he would get rehabilitated probably through physical therapy. The young soldier felt that the army would do what they felt was appropriate for the young soldiers that came from the war disabled. He felt that they only had pity to offer (s5 l 3).

The society is shown as being disabled in terms of it not having any means through which they can positively encourage and rehabilitate the soldiers so that they would stop feeling like they were of no use to themselves or to the society. The society should have first of all organized festive welcome home occasions so that the young soldiers could stop feeling like as if they had wasted away their youths and their whole lives for a lost cause in having gone off to the war to fight for their country (Kendall 119).

If the army was to look at the soldiers as heroes, there is no doubt that this feeling would be passed on to the whole society. The army is also shown as being ungrateful because of the different and unrealistic expectations that they seem to hold for the soldiers that go to war. They well know that soldiers might get injured or wounded in war and they should therefore put necessary measures in place to help the soldiers cope so that they can still lead normal lives. One of the reasons that soldiers feel depressed and hopeless is because of the views of the society towards them.

Although the soldier is not mentally disabled, he is physically disabled which made him feel devoid. The soldier sat in his wheel chair and began to reminisce about the days before he went to war as he looked at children playing and imagine that he would never interact with young ladies that he would have been able to interact with if he had not gone to war (S1 l2, 3, 4). He felt that the ladies that would have been attracted to him before he went war were now viewing him as if he had an illness.

The ladies, who were impressed because of the soldier’s kilts, were now viewing him as if he had a disease. The army personnel also viewed him with pity. This shows that the values of the society are not right. An individual should not be made to feel as if they are inadequate on the basis of their physical capabilities (Owen 44).

Individuals who have given their time to serve the country or society should be appreciated and made to feel as if they are important because of their noble deeds. The society is therefore portrayed as being full of pretenders, individuals that only want to be associated with other people when they are considered to be ‘whole,’ but once those individuals sacrifice themselves in whatever manner necessary in order to serve the society and for the greater good of the society, they turn their backs to those people (Cavzer 57).

Once the individuals that scarified themselves become disadvantaged as in the case of the soldier that became disabled after going to war, the society offers no hope to that individual.

The young soldier felt like he was living dead just because he had lost his life. If the society was more positive in the way that they received the soldier, they would even have encouraged the soldier to have some hope in life and start living his life positively. The soldier must have thought that in the same way that he got a cheerful send off, he would get a cheerful welcome (Kendall 89).

He must also have felt that since he had lost his limbs in the line of duty while he served his society, they would honor and appreciate him for his actions. But the soldier got the opposite of what he expected because he felt rejected, felt sympathy and hopeless. He felt that what was left of him to do was just do what was instructed by the members of the army who would be in charge of rehabilitating him (Cavzer 62).

Instead of glory, attention from women and respect for having honorably served his country, he got bitter, disappointed, depressed, no attention from women, disabled and he now had to be dependent on others to take care of him because he could not do it by himself.

Cavzer, Elna. Changing Perceptions . England: Sussex Academic Press, 1999. Print.

Kendall, Tim. The Oxford handbook of British and Irish War Poetry . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Owen, Wilson. Poems by Wilfred Owen. New Yolk. Forgotten Books, 1949. Print.

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The poem is written about a soldier who has been injured in the war. He is sat in a wheelchair and he is in a lonely place. He considers his past and how he used to be good looking and an artist. He lied about his age to enter the army. At the time, he thought it would be glorious to be a soldier and he had not thought about the wider implications of entering into military service. There is a sadness in the poem that they will not escape the horror of the way and of his uncertain future. It is a hopelessness that represents the generation, rather than simply the soldier identified.

Wilfred Owen witnessed the horror of World War I and he was hurt on the battlefield. The poem was written whilst he was recovering in hospital, in Edinburgh. He was diagnosed with shell shock. It was in this hospital that he met one of the other famous war poets, Siegfried Sassoon. Owen is just one of the many poets who recorded the events on the frontline in poetic form. After writing the poem, he returned to the battlefield. He died on 4th November 1918 and his parents discovered that their son had been lost on Armistice Day.

author’spurpose

With Owen’s experience on the battlefield, he would have been extremely aware of the consequences of physical injuries. Unlike modern day society, after World War 1, there was no real care for those who had post-traumatic injuries. Owen wants to make it clear with profound description how horrific and life-changing the consequences of war could be. ‘Disabled’ is often described as one of the most disturbing poems that he wrote.

Metaphors and Similes

‘Like a Hymn’ (stanza 1) - considering where hymns are sung is important. This is the first signal of religion and there is the idea of being saved or a funeral procession. It is possible that there is a reference to the ‘Lord’s Hymn’, which is said at important times in one’s life.

Loss and sadness

‘Lost his colour…poured it down shell holes’

‘Threw away his knees’

There is a sense of grieving for a lives that have been wasted. Young men have died on the battlefield and there is a mourning for those lost. The poem has a dark theme.

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound. If the alliteration begins with an ‘s’, then this is called sibilance. There are two types of sound: hard sounds (plosives) or soft sounds. It is extremely important to consider which sort of sound is being repeated, as this will determine the impact.

‘Girls glanced’ (stanza 2) - The soft repeated ‘g’ sound reminds us of a gentler time in his life. However, arguably the hard sound reminds us of the bitterness that is currently being experienced, as he worries that ‘girls’ will never ‘glance’ at him again. This is a recurring theme in the poem, as there is repetitive mention of women: ‘mothering’, ‘girls’ waists’, ‘women’s eyes’ and ‘Meg’. Perhaps he is concerned that he will never be attractive to women again.

Short sentence structures

‘He thought he’d better join. He wonders why.

Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts.

That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,

He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg’

This section of the poem contains multiple short sentences. It is almost as though he is reliving his lie. It is shocking how simple the lies were but the wider impact that they have caused. He considers how the simple actions have resulted in him now sitting in a wheelchair.

Two part structure

The poem is clearly divided into two parts: before the war and after the war. There is much mention of sport and ‘goal(s)’. This further emphasises the shattered dreams of the soldier being described, as the title is clear in stating that the soldier is ‘disabled.’

Linking stanzas

‘And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

Only a solemn man who brought him fruits

Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.’

Looking carefully at the contrast between the applause and celebration that he was sent to war with and the sadness of the crowd on his return home, we can understand how the morale of the british people was affected by the war. Loss of men occured in every family and although his return was celebrated, Owen emphasises that it was not with the same positive energy that he left home with.

The repetition in the poem is somewhat irregular in the first half of the poem. It is as though the soldier has lost their rhythm in life and there is no regular order to life anymore. However, as the poem progresses, the rhyme becomes more noticeable and regular. Perhaps this is to recognise that this is the norm now of the soldier and he must accept this way of life.

The poem ends with an exclamation, followed by rhetorical questions, which contain repetition:

‘How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come

And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?’

There is a sense of desperation in the voice of the narrator. The situation appears to be a metaphor for the aftercare that society will provide to the soldier. The fact that the nurses are not attending to the soldier is reflective of how nobody will further care and look after the injured. He will be forgotten about.

exampractice

Within the exam, you will be asked to compare one text to another of your choice. Here are 3 example essays that you could practice. You must consider the use of language and structure in your answer:

Compare the sense of loss in ‘Disabled’ to another text of your choice.

Compare the sense of helplessness in ‘Disabled’ to another text of your choice.

How is youth presented in ‘Disabled’? Compare it to a text of your choice.

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• The anti-war poem ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen

Emmeline Burdett gives an analysis of one of the most famous anti-war poems of all time from the hand of the First World War Poet, Wilfred Owen. In a bid to evoke what Owen called ‘the pity of War’ the poem ‘Disabled’ gives impairment an emblematic status which, argues Burdett, impacts on attitudes today.

Plate from Poems by Wilfred Owen, (Chatto & Windus 1920)

Wilfred Owen’s powerful anti-war poem ‘Disabled’ (1917) was republished in the Guardian newspaper on November 13 2008, as part of the newspaper’s seven-day focus on aspects of the First World War. That day’s topic was ‘Art and War’, and it included discussions of how artists and writers had sought to turn their experiences of the First World War into art.

Owen’s poem was published by itself with no commentary and no explanation given for its presence, so the reader was left to make up his or her own mind.

The poem ‘Disabled’ was written while its author was a patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland.  Owen had been sent to Craiglockhart after being diagnosed with ‘neurasthenia’ (‘shell-shock’). It was here that he met his fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was also a patient.

The writer Robert Graves, who had come to the hospital to visit Sassoon, read ‘Disabled’ and praised it highly. As an anti-war poem, ‘Disabled’ is moving and powerful, but when looked at for its portrayal of disability, it is extremely problematic, invoking as it does familiar disablist tropes of asexuality, helplessness and hopelessness. The poem has an omniscient narrator, who tells the story of the central character, an unnamed ex-soldier, who has returned from the Great War with severe and life-changing injuries:

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark, And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow….. (‘Disabled’, lines 1-3)

These few lines paint a melancholy picture, both of the extent of the soldier’s injuries (he appears to have lost at least three, and possibly four limbs), and also of his isolation – in describing him as ‘waiting for dark’ Owen suggests that he has nothing and no-one to distract him from his thoughts or to help him fill time.

As the poem continues, Owen builds upon the sense of loss and despair that he has created,  leaving the reader in no doubt that, before the soldier received his injuries, his life had been full of excitement, promise, and hope:

About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim, In the old times, before he threw away his knees. (lines 7-10)

Since being invalided out of the army and sent back to hospital in Britain, however, the soldier’s prospects (particularly of being the object of a girl’s romantic desires) have vanished:

Now he will never feel again how slim Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, All of them touch him like some queer disease. (lines 11-13)

These lines make it clear that Owen wants to show that enforced celibacy will now be the soldier’s lot, and that if anyone does look at him, it will only be as an object of pity. This impression is reinforced in the final lines of the poem:

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole. Tonight, he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole. How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come And put him into bed? Why don’t they come? (lines 40-46)

Though this final stanza, like the rest of the poem, is extremely moving, it is also highly problematic. Owen portrays the soldier in such a way as to leave the reader in absolutely no doubt that, now he is disabled, all the things that made his life fulfilling and enjoyable are irretrievably lost.

There are two points to bear in mind here. Firstly, Owen himself had seen much front-line service, and furthermore he wrote ‘Disabled’ whilst a patient in a military hospital. Consequently, he would have been well aware of the kinds of life-changing injuries that soldiers invalided out of the Great War could receive.

Secondly, Owen was a highly political poet, who was – or who, at least, became – a passionate critic of the Great War. In his other poetry – most notably in works like ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ – he raged against the lies that he insisted had induced young men in their millions to join the armed forces, to fight and die for their country.

One of Owen’s most famous pronouncements was ‘My subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the Pity’.  By this he meant that war was the ultimate evil, subverting all the values that human beings might  hold dear – values such as goodness, justice, compassion.

In this way the maimed soldier in ‘Disabled’ is an emblematic figure – one who shows the terrible cost of war. But as Disability Studies academics and activists have shown, to afford disabled characters a purely emblematic status is both to shield oneself from the reality of continuing to live life and exist in the world with an impairment, and to adopt an overly fatalistic attitude to the difficulties – both physical and psychological – that someone with an impairment may experience.

Throughout the poem, for example, Owen impresses upon the reader the soldier’s isolation: he has no-one with him, he has no prospects, he will never be a husband or father, the only gazes he will attract will be ones of pity or embarrassment.

In this way Owen leaves the image of the maimed ex-soldier hanging, as if in aspic. He is a monument to Owen’s hatred of war, but he does not exist as a real human being. This squeamish refusal to consider how life might continue once someone has acquired a severe impairment arguably persists in our own times with the widespread support for assisted suicide, the adherents of which claim to be motivated by compassion and respect for personal freedom, but who may in reality be hampered by a refusal to consider seriously how life may be lived in a different way.

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This piece is marvellous. Thank you for writing it!

I don’t get it

Useful for revision 🙂

I was looking for some poetry to express what is happening today in Russia and Ukraine and came across this website. I am a lawyer and a former US Marine Corps infantry captain. Owens poetry helps me find words sometimes and it is adaptable to lots of situations I encounter as a lawyer having to explain the misery of clients in cases sometimes. The poem “disabled” really speaks to the central issue about how a disabled person is even now still looked past as irrelevant in spite of their inherent value as a human being and the fact that as …  Read more »

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Summary and Analysis of Disabled by Owen

Table of Contents

Disabled by Owen

This is a particularly disturbing poem. Its success lies in Owen’s ability to take an unusual scenario to make a point. It explores the motivation to enlist for the war, the naivety, and the lure of what a uniform means and how he lost his sense of ‘doing it for the uniform’. The poem emphasises the persona’s uncertainty of the future. It has an overwhelming sense of pathos (sadness) as the reason for going to war were not realised (the women, the glory, the euphoria, the ‘sport’). He is now completely helpless. He has been physically and mentally damaged – and has become someone waiting for someone to come and put him to bed (waiting to end it all?).

It attacks the myth of the returning war hero. The persona leaves with cheers but returns to very little and certainly has no fanfare from the ‘solemn man’ who meets him on return. It is also about the loss individuals had to bear – the loss of mobility, the loss of freedom, the loss of respect, the loss of a future. This is especially emphasised in the final two lines.

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Summary Disabled by Owen

Owen begins with an anonymous ‘He’ so it can be any young man who goes to war. This makes the sentiment behind the poem even more universal and can be related to any war. We also know the man is injured because of the words ‘wheeled chair’. He waits for nothing but ‘dark’. We soon learn he is badly injured,

‘ Legless, sewn short at elbow’

In this stanza, we also see ‘dark’ and ‘grey’ setting up a sense of loneliness and isolation reinforced by the word ‘shivered’. He hears from the ‘park’ the voices of boys playing but to him, they are ‘like a hymn’ to him because it reminds him of his past and how bleak his future is. The stanza ends with dusk coming on as the children are ‘mothered’ in.

In this stanza, Owen sets the mood of the poem with its bleak appraisal of the soldier and his shattered body. For him, there is no brightness and we get the impression he is depressed.

‘ He’s lost his colour very far from here,’

and this creates an image of him giving blood for us in war. These images give us an idea of how his wounds occurred as the shells exploded his blood ‘spurted from his thigh’. This could be seen as a sexual image but instead of a life-giving spurt, he has given his blood so ironically he can never have a woman. Another irony is that we learn later that he joined to please his girlfriend.

Owen always uses graphic imagery to convey the reality of war and this stanza is clearly designed to do this.

STANZA FOUR

This stanza takes us back to when he joined up and is linked by the idea of blood. On the sporting field, a ‘bloodsmear’ could make you a hero. We get an image of him here being carried off the field a hero – ironically now he cannot walk and has to be carried everywhere. In the euphoria of his sporting heroics and a few drinks he decides to join up because of vanity, ‘a god in kilts’; because it would ‘please his Meg’ and the ‘giddy jilts’ which is a Scottish term for young woman. These Scottish images lead us to believe he was in one of the regiments from Scotland. The poor young man was even under-age,

‘ Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years’

This gives us a good indication that he is indeed still very young and joined for silly, childish reasons. Now he has returned a cripple they all seem so puerile. This idea is reinforced in the next stanza.

STANZA FIVE

This stanza tells us that when he joined he hadn’t even thought of the enemy or why they may be fighting them. He hadn’t even considered the consequences of his actions so he had no ‘Fear’. Note how Owen capitalizes the word to make it a real, living thing. The young man had only thought about the nice things he knew about war like the uniform, pay, leave and the ‘Espirit de corps’. He was even sent away with ‘drums and cheers’.

This final stanza gives a lovely contrast with the reality of what he had to face. With a reminder of the football hero scene in stanza four, this is a nice juxtaposition. Here no one cheers his even greater sacrifice but one ‘solemn man’. What is left for him but ‘institutes’ and becoming passive and institutionalised. He has no choice as war has taken away his mobility and arm. He sees the looks of pity and can do nothing. He has lost his allure to women – now they take him to bed as less than a man when once he would have taken them. They want ‘strong men that were whole’.

The final two lines remind us of how helpless he is. The shiver in line 2 of the opening stanza is linked to ‘cold’ here and all he can do is question, ‘Why don’t they come?’ He can do nothing for himself and is reduced to waiting on the whim of others. Owen reminds us that his future is bleak, each day will be like this and it is the high cost of war; Again he reinforces the idea of senseless waste.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Wilfred Owen — The depiction of Suffering in Disabled by Wilfred Owen

The Depiction of Suffering in Disabled by Wilfred Owen

• Categories: Wilfred Owen

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Published: Jun 29, 2018

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Analysing Wilfred Owens' Poem Disabled.

      Disabled shows the struggle of one man who everyday contemplates his wasted life. All he has are the memories but they seem to become more distant as the days go on.

Owen is describing someone that he knew in the army. This man was in the Scottish regiment. He has had his leg blown up.

He has no legs and his arms are sewn at the elbow. He is in an institute, a nursing home of some sought.

       He waits for darkness because then things will be quiet. He is fed up with life and is waiting to die. He hears voices of boys singing, these are voices of people playing just as he had once played.

       He talks about the evenings. He says that at this time the towns atmosphere was fun and happy everyone is dancing having fun. He is very sad that he will never again experience this again. He says the girls look upon like he has some kind of disease. He talks of how he will never again feel the waist of a women, he also talks about how he threw away his knees in the war

        He was once a lovely face now he looks old. He back is now in a brace this is the back that was not so long ago was as strong as anything.

He has lost his colour just like losing blood. He feels as tough he has poured his life away down endless shell holes, he wonders what he has been given for this. Nothing.

"And leap of purple spurted from his thigh."

        He loves his youth. When his leg was blown away a massive part of him is now missing.

One time he saw blood down his leg from a football injury, he thought this was great. Now he has no leg.

        He wonders why he joined the army. He tries to impress people as they told him he would do well in the army. One reason he signed up was because his dear Meg would be pleased.

At the time he was not afraid of being afraid. A soldiers biggest worry is being afraid.

"And no fears of fear have come yet"

        He had thoughts of all the swords and other weaponry that he would receive in the army. He had great thoughts of wearing the smart uniform and making those proud salutes.

Smiling away they signed him away. He said that before he never even thought of the Germans and he definitely had nothing against them.

He thought that playing football was great, the buzz he got from the cheering. People thought of him as hero. He thought that people would cheer for him in the army, he wanted to be a hero in the army.

        He thinks of the army spirit, the pride in his unit. He tells about how he was given cheers and the noise of the drums as he leaves. He is so very optimistic.

When he is brought back the cheers were not like the ones before the cheers are in contrast to what he imagined. This is ironic to him.

Only a few people cheered when he came back only one man inquired this man was the priest. This makes him feel in a way betrayed.

He will spend the next few years doing as the rules say. People will just take pity on him.

He talks of how the women ignore him for the strong people. People with all their body.

        His final thoughts of the poem is one of total depression. He thinks that life is pointless.

He is so helpless he can't go to bed without someone there to help him. He feels as though he only has a few years left. He wants to be put to death as he feels like he has and can do nothing that he feels will make his life tolerable and he feels as tough nothing that he does or feels will make him feel his life is worth it. Disabled is a poem with one such purpose, and Owen 's technique and style largely convey this. Within the poem, Owen paints a poignant picture of a young soldier, removed from the battlefield possibly at a hospital in his home town ‘legless, sewn short at one elbow.’

      In the poem, Owen adopts the persona of the young soldier as he reflects upon what he was before the war, and what the war has left him with, or rather taken from him. He is described as having energy and vitality in his pre-war days, the warmth of this memory contrasting starkly with the isolation he find himself in upon his return.

       Along with Owen 's portrayal the boy’s former life, he refers to the events leading to the boys recruitment. He mentions that the boy was once thought ‘ a god in kilts’ not only does this demonstrate the soldiers total physical change, but also indicates that he because a member of one of the Scottish regiments and almost enlisted for reason of vanity. ‘To please his Meg’ is also cited as another reason for the boy enlisting, Owen still retaining some bitterness towards the more ardent female patriots- as in the latter part of the poem, Meg is nowhere to be found. Another  lies in the following line: ‘ smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years’, the sadness of the soldiers plight is heightened as it becomes clear he was underage when he enlisted as therefore is still very young.

         In the last stanza, the picture of despair is made complete by the soldiers total passivity, his future will be to ‘ do what thing the rules consider wise. ‘ He is expected to ‘ spend a few sick years,’ ‘ take whatever pity ‘ others chose to offer him and then tragically sit in a room ‘ waiting for dark. ‘ Owen conveys to the reader the sadness of a once healthy athlete, reduced to a state of helplessness and dependency on others.

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         Although there is a shade of anger in Owen 's tone, as the young soldier he remains reserved, bitter and faintly resigned to his dreary future. Disabled is similar to Dulce et decorum est and S.I.W, in than its purpose is partly to reveal to the reader the suffering of war. However, within Disabled, this suffering is intensified by Owen 's focus on an individual.

           More than wanting the reader to feel sorry for the Disabled soldier and others like him, Owen wanted to expose those at home for what they really were- unsupportive. Despite society’s eagerness to send him to war as he was drafted with ‘drums and cheers’, the same society appeared reluctant to embrace him with the same eagerness upon his return ‘ Some cheered him on but not as crowds cheer goal.’ The ‘giddy jilts’ which he had so longed to please by joining up considered him a ‘queer disease’ after his injuries, this showing that he suffers not only from the physical loss of his arm, but also the psychological scar of rejection.

             In essence, the young man’s life had been ruined by the war and Owen points the finger towards society, accusing them of forcing him to go. Perhaps they could have made his life a little more whole by offering companionship, however instead they inflicted another damaging blow by isolating him even further upon his return. In his purpose Owen communicates to the reader how lives can be dramatically ruined by war, and society is to blame for their actions both before and after.

             The structure of the poem compliments this purpose, as it is loose with irregularities in stanza. This unorthodox approach helps Owen to convince the reader of the soldiers story, and make the reflections more real. Owen 's use of contrast continues throughout the poem, and each stanza contains images in direct opposition to one another. Within the first stanza there is a contrast between the solidity of the soldiers situation, and the movement of the town at night.                    

             Beauty and disease contrast in stanza two, youth and old age in the next but the most impressionable is the contrast Owen creates in stanza four. As the reader is already aware that the soldier has lost an arm and his legs, it is a surprise to hear that prior to the war the boy was proud to have an injury and was carried shoulder high for it: One time he liked a blood smear down his leg After the matches carried shoulder high.            This sharply contrasts with his current predicament, as instead of a ‘blood smear’ he sustains a life threatening wound.

             is another technique used to promote Owen 's purpose, a good example of this is in the second stanza wherein the boy refers to the old times ‘before he threw away his knees’. As well as providing a very powerful image, the line is laced with irony. Only a very negligent individual would throw his knees away, however the boy did not commit this folly, rather it was committed for him. Imagery does  a large part in the poem, the images accompanying his lack of female companionship particularly effective. Owen seems to hone in on the point that the boy is incomplete, and will never really be a man.

             The ‘ leap of purple which spurted from his thigh,’ although indicating an arterial wound, also can be seen as a symbolic  for ejaculation. Very cleverly Owen again puts important contrast into this small phrase. In the sense of ejaculation, this image promotes life and the creation of it, in a different sense, it can also imply a loss of blood, or loss of life. Owen makes extensive use of , the last two lines of the poem demonstrating this: How cold and late it is? Why don’t they come And put him to bed? Why don’t they come?             This repetition equates to monumental depression, the anxiety the boy is feeling as he waits for somebody to put him to bed. The pitiful image of the young man, dreaming of his warm past in a cold lonely room is a haunting one, and Owen uses it effectively. In Disabled, Owen looks at the cosmic experience of war, and convey s to the reader the horror of the individual battle which continues long after the primary conflict

The Charge Of The Light Brigade:

Tennyson´s poem celebrates the glory of war, despite the fact that, because of an error of judgement (‘Someone had blundered´), six hundred soldiers were sent to their death.

          He was a civilian poet, as opposed to a soldier poet like Owen. His poem ‘Light Brigade´ increased the morale of the British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War and of the people at home, but Tennyson had not been an eyewitness to the battle he describes.

Tennyson´s poem is a celebration of the bravery of the six hundred British troops who went into battle against all odds, even though they knew that they would be killed. The poem starts in the middle of the action. ‘Light Brigade´ is written in dactylic feet (one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables) and this gives a sense of the excitement of the galloping horses in the cavalry charge:

‘Half a league, half a league

Half a league onward´

Tennyson creates a vivid impression of the bravery of the soldiers with many ‘verbs of action:

‘Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there´

             The heroic command in stanza 1, which is repeated for effect in stanza 2, sweeps the reader along without time to question the futility of the gesture:

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!

‘Charge for the guns!´

             He uses noble sounding euphemisms like ‘the valley of Death´, ‘the jaws of Death´, ‘the mouth of Hell to describe the fate that awaits these men. He does not convey the gory reality of the slaughter.

              Tennyson creates a feeling of exhilaration, of the nobility of warfare with his use of poetic devices, such as rhetorical repetition:

‘Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them´,

and alliteration:

‘Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell´

Tennyson celebrates the ideal of unquestioning obedience of the soldiers in the face of death:

‘Their's not to make reply,

Their's not to reason why,

Their's but to do and die´

            In the final stanza Tennyson creates a sense of the immortality of the soldiers´ bravery with a rhetorical question and commands:

‘When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred!´

           The repetition of ‘the six hundred´ at the end of each stanza reminds the reader of the enormous loss of life, but at the end of the poem they have become the ‘Noble six hundred´ and are celebrated as heroes.

Basic Explanation: Charge of the light brigade

Lines 1-4  

            The beginning lines of the poem throw the reader into the center of action, with a rousing chant that drives the reader, both in its description and in its galloping rhythm, toward the battle. A "league" is approximately three miles long: charging horses could cover half a league in a few minutes. The audiences of the time of the poem would have been familiar with the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, upon which the poem is based, and would have known from the beginning that they were charging to their own doom. (As the poem soon makes clear, the six hundred cavalrymen of the Light Brigade were aware of this themselves.) The poem suggests that it is these moments before the battle has begun that are the Brigade's greatest glory. The phrase "Valley of Death" refers to an episode of John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress and to Psalm 23 from the New Testament of the Bible: in both of these sources, faith makes people brave when they are faced with death.  

Lines 5-8  

           In the earliest published version of this poem, printed in the London Examiner on December 9, 1853, the command to charge forward was attributed to Lord Nolan, a well-known military figure of the time. In changing the speaker to an anonymous "he," the poet shifts the focus of the poem away from individual actions and decisions onto matters of record, and onto the roles played by followers and leaders in military situations everywhere. In addition to obscuring the identity of the speaker, this final version of the poem changes the command given from "Take the guns" to "Charge for the guns!" This heightens the sense of the danger of the charge, while leaving unstated the reason for charging into the blaring gunfire.  

Lines 9-12  

           No sooner does line 9 repeat the shouted command that sends the Light Brigade to their doom than line 10 makes the reader wonder whether any of the soldiers were stricken with fear upon hearing the command. Although we currently closely associate the word "dismay" with "shock," its actual meaning includes a loss of courage. By raising this issue as a question and then answering that no, there was no fear, Tennyson gives the reader a moment's pause to let the full extent of the soldiers' bravery sink in. Line 11 and line 12 tell the reader without question that every member of the Brigade knew that this order was a mistake. This contradiction — the fact that the soldiers knew they were likely to die because of a "blunder" in military strategy, yet charged forward without fear anyway — gives the poem a psychological depth that would be lost if it merely celebrated the loyalty of soldiers who were unaware of the faulty command they were following.

Lines 13-17  

            Lines 13 through 15 repeat each other, in the way they phrase the rules these soldiers live by. The style suggests the regimented, militaristic way the members of the Light Brigade think as they ride ahead, and the effect of the strong use of repetition is to drown out concerns about the blunder mentioned in the previous stanza. "Theirs but to do and die" says that the soldiers are actually supposed to die — this might seem contrary to the purpose of fighting, but Tennyson makes it clear that this is the belief of the charging soldiers, for whom such a fate would be the ultimate expression of loyalty. In lines 16 and 17, the perspective shifts from what the soldiers think of their mission to a view of the overall battle situation, again repeating the image of the "valley of Death."  

Lines 18-21  

         The first three lines of this stanza are virtually identical, changing only the location of the cannons, presenting the layout of the battlefield visually, instead of simply stating the fact that there were cannons all around. By repeating the phrase three times, the reader is not only given information about the tremendous odds against the Light Brigade, but the poem gives the feeling of being surrounded.  

Lines 22-26  

         "Stormed" in line 22 extends the image of "thundered" from the line before it, making the barrage of cannon fire aimed at the cavalrymen appear almost like a force of nature. Line 23 makes a point of mentioning that the soldiers of the Light Brigade were brave, but also that they rode their horses well. Their skill is mentioned almost as an afterthought, though, and this is the only place in the poem that it is brought up. The reason for this is that this poem makes its reader analyze the battle almost entirely in terms of attitude, not ability. In lines 24-26, Tennyson expands the phrase that was used to end the first two stanzas: instead of the geographic "Valley of Death," he uses the metaphor "jaws of Death," and extends this metaphor with "mouth of hell." Treating death as the same thing as hell, and making both as real as an animal's attack, the poem heightens the viciousness of death on the battlefield.  

Lines 27-38  

          This stanza celebrates the Light Brigade's control over the battle at its beginning. They ride into the enemy, using their sabres against opponents armed with cannons and pistols, and are able to break through the front line of defense. The pistols and rifles of the day would have been useless to the members of the Light Brigade because they required reloading with a very complicated procedure that involved measuring gunpowder and pellets, which would have been impossible for a man on horseback. Sending a cavalry unit into the confined space of a valley against guns was so obviously hopeless, that it may be this, and not the brigade's initial success, that is referred to when the line "all the world wondered" appears in the middle of a vivid battle scene. In this stanza, the Light Brigade takes such complete control of the situation that their opponents, the Cossacks and Russians, find their defensive line torn apart ("shattered and sundered") and have to retreat, while the six hundred cavalry members, who have by this time stared into the barrels of cannons and guns, continue to press forward bravely. Lines 39-49  

         The first five lines of this stanza override any optimism the reader may have gotten from the Light Brigade's initial success. By using the same words as were used in stanza 3 (except that now the cannon are behind instead of in front of them), the poem takes the reader back to the same sense of hopelessness that was established before the battle began. The brief victory that was gained in the fourth stanza has made no difference in the overall scope of the battle. The first time these words were used (lines 18-22), though, they ended with a claim of the soldiers' boldness and skill: this time, they end with the soldiers (referred to directly as "heroes" ) being shot down. The path that the Light Brigade charged into — the jaws of death, the mouth of hell — is mentioned again as the survivors make their escape. Anthropologists and sociologists have observed that going into hell and then returning is a common motif in the mythology of many of the world's cultures, including one of the best-known myths of Western civilization, the labors of Hercules. The survivors of this battle are thus raised to heroic status by the words that this poem uses to describe the valley's entrance. Lines 50-55  

          The focus of the poem shifts in this stanza, from describing the battle scene to addressing the reader directly. In using the description "wild" to marvel at the charge, Line 51 implies that thoughtless bravery is to be admired in and of itself, regardless of concerns about strategy or success. Repeating the line "All the world wondered" in line 52 adds to the idea that what the soldiers have done goes beyond the average person's comprehension: the soldiers are following rules that those who rely on intellect over loyalty might not understand. Although a close reading of the tone of this poem can leave little question about how we are meant to feel about these cavalrymen, the poem does not rely upon a reader's understanding of the subtleties of tone, but directly tells the reader in line 53 and line 55 to honor these soldiers. That the poem is so straightforward about its intent is an indicator that it was written for a common, often uneducated, audience, to celebrate the actions of common soldiers who understood what they were being asked to do better than the blundering military strategists who planned the attack.

Teacher Reviews

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay.

Katie Dixon

**** 4 STARS Disappointing notes on 'Disabled' in the first section. Actual essay was very well written, used PEA effectively and showed real insight and engagement with poem. 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' essay was again very well written, used terminology effectively and accurately and well chosen quotes supported statements. Notes on 'Charge of the Light Brigade' are very detailed.

Document Details

• Word Count 3637
• Page Count 5
• Level AS and A Level
• Subject English

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Wilfred Owen: Poems

Commentary on the poem “disabled” by wilfred owen ilaria marchese 12th grade.

The poem “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen was written during World War I in 1917. Owen writes from the perspective of a double-amputee veteran from whom the battlefield took away all appreciation for life. This persona decides to reflect upon the various reasons that made him enroll. In this poem, the persona presents the effects of war on young male adults sent to war: their loss of physical abilities, innocence and youth, as well as society’s insufficient recognition of their actions during the war. It could be suggested that the author is exploring the theme of the futility of war and critique of society. The universal theme embedded in the poem is the separation that war creates between those who stayed at home and those who fought: the so-called “two nation” effect. In order to convey these themes, the author employs structure, characterization, setting, contrasts and diction.

The title of the poem is significant and reveals the “two nations” theme. It is the disability of the figure that sets him apart from the others; it is the reason why he will never be able to feel the pleasures of life again. This is highlighted by the fact that “women’s eyes passed from him to the strong men that were whole” (line 44). The use of the word...

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