Selected Poems of Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Parable of the Old Man and the Young [1917]
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Dulce et Decorum Est [1917]
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Five-Nines - 5.9 calibre explosive shells
high zest: idealistic enthusiasm, keenly believing in the rightness of the idea
Dulce et Decorum Est: the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honor to fight and die for your country.
Questions for Discussion
1. Which of the following statements best describes the theme, or central idea, of “Dulce et Decorum Est”?
A) War is tough, but you get used to it.
B) Going to war for one’s country is a noble act.
C) War teaches soldiers to look unemotionally at death.
D) War is horrifying and demoralizing.
2. The soldiers in “Dulce et Decorum Est” can best be described as —
A) exhausted and delirious
B) wandering and lost
C) afraid and hesitant
D) careful and calculating
3. What is the crucial event in “Dulce et Decorum Est”?
A) A soldier foresees his own death.
B) British troops are attacked with poisonous gas.
C) The speaker descends into an underground tunnel.
D) The main character is killed just before the war ends.
4. Whom does the speaker address in the last four lines of the poem?
A) His enemy
B) His conscience
C) His dead buddy
D) The reader
5. Which of the following phrases from “Dulce et Decorum Est” is not a simile?
A) “Drunk with fatigue”
B) “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”
C) “Obscene as cancer”
D) “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”
6. In line 6 of “Dulce et Decorum Est,” the metaphor “blood-shod” compares —
A) soldiers to ghosts
B) blood on feet to shoes on feet
C) injuries from poison gas to bullet wounds
D) shed blood to unshed blood
7. Wilfred Owen’s main rhetorical purpose in the poem is to —
A) entertain the reader
B) explain the procedure for defense against poisonous gas
C) impress the panel of judges for a literary prize
D) make the reader understand a soldier’s experiences
Anthem for Doomed Youth [1917]
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
passing-bells: a bell tolled after someone's death to announce the death to the world
patter out: rapidly speak
orisons: prayers, here funeral prayers
mockeries: ceremonies which are insults. Here Owen seems to be suggesting that the Christian religion, with its loving God, can have nothing to do with the deaths of so many thousands of men
demented: raving mad
bugles: a bugle is played at military funerals (sounding the last post)
shires: English counties and countryside from which so many of the soldiers came
candles: church candles, or the candles lit in the room where a body lies in a coffin
pallor: paleness
drawing-down of blinds: normally a preparation for night, but also, here, the tradition of drawing the blinds in a room where a dead person lies, as a sign to the world and as a mark of respect. The coming of night is like the drawing down of blinds.
Questions for Discussion
1. What is the purpose of using the specific words “rifles’ rapid rattle” (line 3)?
A) to suggest the nervousness felt by a soldier during battle
B) to emphasize the anger of the people firing the rifles
C) to stir the poem’s reader into outrage against unjust wars
D) to suggest the speed and ease with which rifle fire can kill
E) to convey the rhythm and sound a rifle makes when it is fired
2. Which is the most likely setting for the observations described in lines 12–14 of the poem?
A) a house of worship
B) a military base
C) a battlefield
D) a soldier’s home town
E) an army hospital
3. In the context of the poem itself, what idea does the poem’s title (“Anthem for Doomed Youth”) convey?
A) An entire generation of youth can be lost because of war.
B) Being sent off to war makes a young person grow up quickly.
C) War is futile because no side ever really wins.
D) The national anthem can be interpreted as a call to war.
E) War can cause young people to become disillusioned about life.
4. Which group of words from the poem best conveys its overall tone?
A) monstrous anger (line 2)
B) from sad shires (line 8)
C) holy glimmers (line 11)
D) patient minds (line 13)
E) each slow dusk (line 14)
5. The poem draws a comparison between “choirs” (lines 6 and 7) and which of the following?
A) stuttering rifles
B) cannon shells
C) bugles
D) passing bells
E) prayers
6. Another poem written by Wilfred Owen around the same time as “Anthem for Doomed Youth” ends with a Latin phrase meaning “It is sweet
and becoming to die for one’s country.” In light of “Anthem,” what point was Owen probably trying to make by using this phrase?
A) Patriotism is an admirable virtue.
B) Death in battle should not be feared.
C) Dying for one’s country is foolish at best.
D) To die in battle is to die with dignity.
E) Fallen soldiers should be honored as heroes.