Disabled (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note

The poem considers how the idea of war and fighting in World War I was romanticised by society:

• It suggests that the young soldiers who signed up were sold a lie

• He thought war would be “jewelled hilts/For daggers in plaid socks” and create a feeling of pride in belonging to this privileged group who get to serve

• These preconceptions are contrasted with the reality of his life in the trenches and his subsequent alienation and isolation from society as an injured veteran

The tragedy of war remains a daily reality for the soldier, even while the rest of society moves on:

• His physical and psychological injuries prevent him from being able to re-enter society and the world he loved before enlisting

Owen implies that the real tragedy of war is the way it leaves soldiers feeling forgotten and alienated by society:

• He suggests the state abandons those who manage to make it home alive

• This criticism is levelled at a society that fails to deal with the consequences of the lie it sells

The title categorises the subject of the poem based on a set of cultural assumptions about disabled people:

• It is a label — and the soldier is unnamed — and so the title is dehumanising

The seven stanzas in the poem vary in length and the poem does not adhere to a traditional form:

• Owen may have done this to emphasise the lack of control the soldier now has over his life

• The shifting structure further reflects the soldier’s state of mind, as his thoughts shift from past to present

The poem starts and ends with the soldier alone in hospital:

• This emphasises the continuous nature of his isolation and alienation from society

Rhyme is employed in the poem, but without a sense of consistency or fluidity:

• This unpredictability may reflect the soldier’s difficulty in coming to terms with his new reality

• He feels marginalised by, and alienated from, society

• The use of iambic pentameter creates the sense of monotony the soldier now feels as he “waits for dark”

The poet juxtaposes the soldier’s life before and after his injuries:

• Owen does this through the use of the soldier’s memories

• He also uses contrasting imagery of darkness and loss of colour (signifying the soldier’s loss of vitality and reason for being) with the light imagery used in his memories of his life before the war

The deliberate breaks in the middle of lines are reflective of the soldier’s disjointed state of mind and train of thought:

• The use of caesura reflects how the man’s life has also been brought to a sudden stop

Owen employs repetition in the form of anaphora  in the closing lines of “Why don’t they come?”:

• As he waits for an answer that might never arrive, the reader is reminded of the soldier’s lack of hope which now dominates his life

At the start of the poem, the soldier is “waiting for dark”, and at the end he implores for his nurses to “put him into bed”:

• The “dark” can be seen to metaphorically symbolise death, which the soldier is waiting for

• Darkness and night symbolise oblivion and an absence of emotional and physical pain, evoking pity from the reader

The loss of his youth and vitality to the war is metaphorically conveyed by how he “poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry”