Literary Analysis Of Tim Kendall's 'Disabled'

Wilfred Owen’s “Mental Cases” offers a rather distinct characterization of World War I soldiers after their participation in the battle. While they are usually portrayed as the brave, handsome and trained heroes of a nation, in this poem the reader confronts the reality of the soldiers’ atrocious mental state as they returned home filled with terror and nightmares of the battlefield. The poet’s main objective of presenting the characterization that will be further explained is to shock the reader with the graphic and brutal scenes the soldiers had to experience during combat and expose the physical and mental consequences of war, highlighting the destruction and terror it brought to humanity. As to the why of this purpose, Owen, having experience

Wilfred Owen uses language and poetic devices to evoke sympathy for the soldier in the poem by using in-depth descriptions. An example of this is in the first stanza where the soldier in the poem ‘shivered in his ghastly suit of grey’. The ‘g’ sound in the words ‘ghastly’ and ‘grey’ emphasises the horror of ‘ghastly’ combined with the dreariness of ‘grey’, which are now the two main features of his life. The word ‘ghastly’ shows something that is strange and unnatural. The adjective ‘grey’, which has connotations of bleakness, portrays an image of darkness and monotony. Furthermore, the verb ‘shivered’ shows that he is vulnerable and exposed. In the phrase, ‘Legless, sewn short at elbow’, the sibilance at the end of ‘Legless’, and in ‘sewn short’ tell us that the short-syllable words are ruthlessly to the point, so it emphasises the fact that the soldier has no arms and legs because of his wounds.

This image is definitely not the glamorous picture of glory that, say army recruitment presents; worse, the soldiers are doing worse than civilians. As soon as the next stanza “[m]en marched asleep. Many had lost their boots” (5). They have lost their usual awareness and move mechanically; that doesn’t sound appealing! It gets worse: “[b]ut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind” (6). So now they’re limping, apparently wounded, covered in blood, and can’t even see? It worsens further, “[d]runk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots/ Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind” (7-8). The soldiers are so exhausted it incapacitates them, and they can no longer hear the bullets being fired. This poem sounds like a distorted nightmare, except the speaker is living it, and even reliving the torment of the soldier’s death while he is unconscious. Owen’s wording expresses that the soldiers are merely men, deteriorating and inconceivably overwhelmed the opposite of positive war poetry containing glory and honor.

The two poems 'Disabled' and 'Mental Cases', both written by Owen, are about war and cover similar but also very different situations. ‘Disabled’ displays the thoughts and feelings of a young man who has lost his limbs after suffering the injuries of war. ‘Mental Cases’, on the other hand, captures the damage to men's minds as a result of war. Owen's aim is to shock and to describe in stark detail the ghastly physical symptoms of mental torment.

Unlike the character in “The Soldier” having a huge amount of patriotic and bravery during World War I. Wilfred Owen, on the other hand is dealing with no sleep, blood, and seeing his soldier’s death right in front of him. “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” (lines 15-16). Wilfred is scared for his life he’s dealing with post traumatic stress disorder seeing one of his soldiers choking from their own body fluids from the mustard gas dropping all around them. In this poem Wilfred Owen is not only fighting for his country, but more for his life.

The poem 'Disabled' by poet Wilfred Owen influences the readers opinion of the soldier's decision to enlist for war. The use of Juxtaposition and Emotive Language makes us realise just now naïve and foolish the soldier was to think that serving his country in something so pointless, was an extreme act of bravery and heroism. Through Juxtaposition, we learn that blood smears sustained in a friendly game of football, are nothing compared to what the soldier had mustered, and forfeited during his time at war. The use of colour symbolises the emotions of the soldier towards the memories of war, and Emotive Language, also enables us to connect with the soldier on a more emotional level, as to make us understand his feelings of regret and anger towards

It presents the actual “during war” and “after fighting” view of war. This poem describes a battle and a death in the battle because Owen actually died in action or as a result of it which is passionate and sorrowful. “Bent double, like old beggars under sack, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through shadge.” This presents a different view of war. Look at the strong words that are used to depict the action; haunting, blood-shod, drunk with fatique, this is what war is really like, the poem implies.

The World War I poems are great accounts to understand the experiences of soldiers during the war. These war poets describe the soldiers’ horrific and traumatic experiences. Wilfred Owen’s poem entitled “Disabled” seems to be describing a soldier waiting for the end of a day, but in actuality, the narrator is reminiscing about that past and waiting for the end of a lifetime. The poem begins with a bleak description of the soldier’s physical state. “Legless, sewn short at elbow” (Owen, 3). The soldier has lost his legs, and he is sitting in a wheelchair wearing a legless

In the poem ‘Disabled’, poet Wilfred Owen portrays the horrors of war and the brutal aftermath by using powerful imagery, dramatic contrasts of pace and time, overwhelming irony and by creating a strong sense of sympathy for the soldier of this poem. The contrasts between health and illness, life and death feature greatly in the poem; this gives the reader a ‘before and after’ picture of the soldier’s (subject’s) life.

Owen’s poem has the clear intention of showing the true nature of war to the reader, which is mainly achieved by contrasting reality against the ways in which war is so

When his poetry is read, it feels as though you’re with him on the field, watching as your friends fight for their lives. Stuck in a war that was lead predominately in trenches, Owen began to find it difficult to validate the constant misery and death he experienced. Continually considering whether the war had been carried on beyond point of reason, he began to express himself through poetry that highlighted the irony of the

First of all, the author uses simile, which is one form of figurative languages, to support the idea of exhaust and pain during the war which contradicts the belief that it is sweet and honorable to die for your country. “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge.” (Owen, 1917, stanza 1, line 1-2) From this quote, it is able to infer that participating war is wearing since the soldiers walk countless miles, which Owen himself compares the them as beggars and hags. “But someone still was yelling out and stumbling. And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.” (Owen, 1917, stanza 2, line 3-4) This quote describes the soldier that could not wear

Owen begins his poem by illustrating the young, innocent, weary men miserably walking to find a nontoxic place, a place away from what is causing their despair. Owen compares the soldiers to “old beggars.” This comparison allows the reader to become familiar with the soldiers’ living conditions, homeless and in need of food. The soldier’s desperation to avoid intervention with any bombs, causes suspense because of the men’s weakness. The imagery filled in the first 14 lines are

Wilfred Owen was an English solider during world war 1 who wrote confronting and truthful poem about the obscene conditions of war. Unlike other poets and writer’s, Owen was honest and explicit making his poems unique and questionable. His main theme and focus throughout was the idea of loss, Owen portrayed different losses in many distinctive ways. Owen used his powerful writing skills to get his main thought point across which was that war and all its loses that followed were unnecessary. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and ‘Disabled’ are two well-known poems that portray interesting ideas of loss using many poetic techniques and statements.

Compare the ways in which Owen powerfully portrays physical and mental consequences of war in the poems 'Disabled' and 'Mental Cases'