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Owens poems give the reader insight to this pain, and elf unmask the tragedy of war. The vulnerability of someone’s well-being explores examples of tragedy as the reader Is drawn to feel and empathic for their pain. During the war, there were many circumstances where a soldier came home from the war and was not the same person, his physical and mental well-being were stripped from him like tape and changed forever. This is evident in Owens poems ‘Disabled’ as one misfortune of war are the soldier’s physical health after returning home from serving their country.
Owen writes “He sat In a wheel chair, waiting for dark, and shivered In his ghastly slut of grey, legless, sewn short of an elbow. This soldier is now more vulnerable than ever, he cannot move, he Is paralyzed by the war, his thoughts are clouded by the images foreseen at his time during the war. Some boys believed they were brave enough and strong enough to fight a tragic battle. Throughout the war. Many young boys aged around fourteen wanted to serve their country in the war. They would write down false ages Just to get in.
Wilfred Owen makes this evident In his poem ‘Disabled’ where he writes “Smiling he wrote his lie: aged nineteen years”. These young men at the young age of fourteen believed that they could achieve anything. They were excited and apprehensive to fight on behalf of their country. But on arrival their experience became horrific and surreal. These youths saw their best mates and peers die in cold blood. These young boys were put in horrible conditions that that they should definitely not be experiencing at their age.
They start to forget their lovely thoughts of being at home with family and friends and start to accept death, as Owen writes In his poem ‘Exposure’, “Shutters and doors, all closed: on us the doors are closed, we turn back to our dying”. Through the innocence of boyhood, Owen has explored tragedy In a way from turning these joys into men too soon and putting them through horrific events, which elude the readers to sympathies and understand the disastrous events they experienced.
The manipulation by Owens superiors expose tragedy, as soldiers are being used like 1 OFF anger as the enemy, but he is angry at those who are sending men over to fight the war. These who are affectively his superior and his rulers of the country, he is angry at the people who are sending him to war because of the lost of lives. In Wilfred Owens poem ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ Just by the title he suggests that the oldie’s have an inevitable fate. In the poem, Owen writes “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? This shows that the soldiers sent to war were Just beasts for slaughter. These men get no appreciation for the hard work they do on the battlefield. They get no funeral, and so respect. This quote asks us what sound is their to mark these soldiers deaths? This phase also introduces a religious imagery to the poem, but its contrasted with the horrific experience on the front lines of war, where men die like animals. And where we can’t imagine any church bells ringing.
Through Owens heartfelt, readers are delivered strong stories of horrifying sadness as they are written about first hand experiences during Owens time at the war. Owens poems cry out anger towards his superiors, as his brothers at arms and himself are being used and tormented like animals. Owen also shares the misfortune of the adolescences as they go from experiencing a innocent playful life, to a horrendous and revolting reality. By exposing the harsh reality of forcing boys into men too soon and too early and seeing men die like “cattle” these stories help the readers establish the tragedies of war.