The second stanza is really touching as one can almost feel the holy glimmers of goodbye— the tears in the eyes of the family members. The scene of the battlefield reminds me of the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum’ in which Owen has described an enemy attack in detail. The dead tiered soldiers returning drenched with fatigue, when the enemy attacks them, releasing mustard gas. The way they run to put on their gas masks and how one of them is unable to and so inhales the poisonous gas is as touching as the dieing of unmourned soldiers in Anthem for the Doomed Youth.
Disabled is a much stronger expression of what the poet thinks of war. It is horrifying to think of how a life has been rendered useless because of war. The description of the “leap of purple from his thigh”, the way he lost colour when his blood drained from his body into the shell holes, his few sick years in a institute— all bring home to us how cruel war can be. Even more cruel, however, is how he is rejected by those around him, how women’s eyes pass on to men who are ‘whole’. Here is somebody who has sacrificed his body for his country but there is no reward for him. He sits there in the dark and wishes to be put out of his misery “Why don’t they come put him to bed”. Again I am reminded of another poem by Owen called Dulce et Decorum in which he shows the terrifying death of a soldier who has inhaled mustard gas and was vomiting his lungs out.
Owen has also, in both poems conveyed to his readers how useless war is and how it solves no problems. In fact problems are multiplied when there is a war. Young human life is wasted, families are devastated and people are robbed of their right to live. In Anthem for the Doomed Youth the lost of family and friends is shown in the second stanza where the friends of dead soldiers hold back their tears and the faces of the girls turn pale at the great loss though there is no loud mourning but the pain is intense and what has been gained by all this. Nothing, no problems are solved. Again in Disabled the life of the soldier is wasted in vain as there is no evidence that the sacrifice that he gave was effective in any way. In fact no one even knows where he is, no one bothers about him. In the war he was only a statistic not a name. Young men are always lured by the propaganda of their respected governments which leads them on to join the army or air force. Though in Anthem for the Doomed Youth Owen does not touch on this sensitive issue, Disabled does show that a soldier’s uniform, rules of leave and salary did attract him to join the army. Also the “smart salutes” “the care of arms” and daggers with jeweled hilts” attracted him. At that time he was very young and drunk and that might be one reason why he was adventurous and didn’t care for the outcome. But the fact remains that he had never been told that his life was at risk, that his legs would be blown and that his veins would run dry. He hadn’t been made aware that he would be a lonely sad man and everyone would avoid him except that one “solemn man who brought him fruits” and “put him to bed”. The realism of war had been concealed from him—and the only thing he had been shown was how smart and handsome, how “he’d look a god in kilts”
The poet has used onomatopoeia, alliteration and personification to make the poems more effective. For example he has given guns a personality when he says “monstrous anger of the guns”. In the same way, “rifles stuttering”, “hells wail”. He uses onomatopoeia when he says “stuttering rifles”, “patter out their hasty orisons” and again in Disabled “leap of purple ‘spurted’ from his thigh”. Alliteration used to create to create word pictures. For example in Anthem for the Doomed Youth “rifles rapid rattle”, “glimmers of goodbye” and in Disabled “play and pleasure”, “giddy gilts” and “smart salutes”, all help in forming the exact picture in our minds.
Most images in both poems are evocative as they help to recreate the scene in the battle field as well as the condition of the “legless” soldier. In Anthem for the Doomed Youth young men die as cattle –Owen emphasizes the waste of young life and the dehumanizing of these soldiers. Again the din, the dust and the presence of death on the battlefield is recreated by the use of small images that occur in quick succession. Guns and rifles have been personified as they are angry and stutter; the shells wail –again a personification. Such images help the reader imagine the whole scene of battle. Again in Disabled Owen creates a vivid image of the young man’s suffering, when his blood drained after he was hit by the enemy shells “Poured it down shell holes till his veins ran dry”. This makes us imagine a young man to death in a trench in a battlefield. Then of the town, of how it looked before he lost his legs “used to swing so gay” is also very touching. Owen also brings home the propaganda of war through images that showed the splendor and glory of war. “jeweled hilts”, “daggers in plaid socks” and “smart salutes”. Thus shows how young men are hoodwinked into joining by the conscripts: soldiers are made to look important and handsome. Then near the end Owen uses the image of how war will destroy a person. Women will no longer look at a disabled war hero, their eyes “Passed from him to the strong men that were whole”
Owen has made us aware of how terrible war really is. By describing the plight of the disabled man and how the bodies of the dead soldiers were sent back to their families made us realize how futile and horrible war really is. None of these sacrifices can be justified; the loss or maiming of human life can never be forgiven. The mood of the poems is somber and dark, and there is a suppressed rage at the insecurity of the world. Owen has made his point very efficiently.
After reading the poems I was instantly shocked into realization of how horrible war can be. It is not that I was not aware of this but these poems seemed to give a peg to my awareness. I was forced to think and after thinking reject war entirely. It did not solve problems in fact it multiplied them. I was reminded of the II World War that had come after the first which is when these poems were written. The II World War was horrifying because it was the first time that a nuclear bomb was used and look at the destruction it cause. I was reminded of the photograph of that little girl running away from the flame of the napalm in the Reader Digests. She was naked as her clothes had been burnt, her skin was peeling off and her mouth was wide open in an unheard scream. I thought of the incapitated soldier in Disabled. I have for life become a person who will hate war and maybe someday I will do something to stop the conflicts in the world.
