Disabled

BY-Wilfred Owens .
 STRUCTURE AND FORM .

. ‘Disabled’ is a 7 stanza poem with vast knowledge

of its own .
. The poem is divided into two different sections ; his
life before the war began and reality of life after war .
.The past focuses on the glory and honor he felt
while joining the army .
. Reality focuses on the fact that he is disabled
And will never be able to return to his old life that he
wishes .
. Repetition of “why don’t they come ” shows him
searching for the privilege he felt initially while
joining the army , now he craves that he is alone
without his leg.
 STANZA 1
• He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting
for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of
• 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.
• 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.

grey, • 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
Legless, sewn short at elbow. World War I, as “sewn” doesn’t sound very professional or meticulous.
• The boys’ voices remind him of what he’s lost. The word hymn adds
Through the park religious connotations, Owen’s way of bringing into question the existence of
God amongst the pain and anguish of war.
Voices of boys rang saddening like • 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
a hymn, at the end of the line represents a pause in his thoughts and brings him back
down to earth.
Voices of play and pleasure after • Sleep here is personified either as giving the man relief and ‘mothering’ him
day, from his torment or taking away the pleasure he finds in nostalgia in a cruel
juxtaposition.
Till gathering sleep had mothered
them from him.
 STANZA 2
• 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.
• The capitalisation of ‘Town’ suggests that the phenomenon of
naive conscription and men returning physically and mentally
disfigured was widespread in war-time Britain.
• ‘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.
• The alliteration of girls glanced emphasises the excitement of
flirtation that the man used to experience, making his current
state even more harrowing.
• 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.
• His former lovers, who may have motivated him to enlist, have
rejected him.
• 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.
• Women don’t respect his service like he thought they would but
instead treat him like an unnatural, inhumane ‘queer disease’.
 STANZA 3
•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.
•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.
•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.
•‘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.
•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”.
• Shell-holes paints a vivid picture of the battlefield, plunging us into the action for
the first time.
•War has taken his life and vitality away from him
• 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’.
• 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.
•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.
The adrenaline, alcohol that made him enlist. It wasn’t a rational decision.
•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.
•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.
 STANZA 4
• One time he liked a bloodsmear
down his leg,
After the matches carried shoulder-
• 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.
• 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.

high. • The authorities don’t ask questions, they don’t care who, the man’s youth is
not a barrier.
It was after football, when he’d • 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
drunk a peg, what he’s imagined. Owen paints an evil picture of these authorities, gleeful
in ruining yet more youth and innocence.
He thought he’d better join. He • Naivety, he’s thought more about kilts than the opposition and dangers of
war.
wonders why . . . • ‘Fear’ is capitalised to personify the Germans.
Someone had said he’d look a god • The imagery of the idealised war shows how impressionable the man was in
the face of propaganda.
in kilts. • 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.
• He was cheered out to war in a wave of excitement.
 STANZA 5
• 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?
• 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.
•
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.
•
Owen is reminding us that war hasn’t just shattered him physically but psychologically too.
• A ‘few sick years’ is a very flippant use of language and illustrates the lack of meaning in his
life now.
•
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.
•
Dole describes the pity being shared out, hence, objectifies it and taking away the emotion and
empathy of it as a result.
• 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.
• Puts the reader inside the man’s head, making his desperation more poignant.
• 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.