Disabled IGCSE Notes
Uploaded by
hamdhafowzan06Disabled IGCSE Notes
Uploaded by
hamdhafowzan06Disabled
By Wilfred Owen
Background
Wilfred Owen is one of the best known English poets who wrote about their experiences of
the First World War (1914 - 1918). These experiences had deep effects on the writers, and
cost many of them their lives. Owen was strongly influenced by another officer and poet
named Siegfried Sassoon. They met at Craiglockhart Hospital where they had both been
sent to recover from shell-shock. Owen twice said that his theme was ‘war and the pity of
war’. Having returned to his regiment after his time in hospital, he died in battle on the 4th
November 1918, just 7 days before the armistice brought the war to an end on the 11th
November 1918.
Summary
Written in 1917 by Wilfred Owen, ‘Disabled’ explores the physical and psychological
trauma experienced during WW1, through the depiction of an injured war veteran.
A young soldier sits in a wheeled-chair, isolated in a hospital and mournfully reflects on
his decision to go to War – a comment on the misleading propaganda that influenced many
young men to enlist. The speaker juxtaposes his current state of trauma and depression
with his joyful life before the war. He mourns the life and youth that the war stole from
him, as he spends the rest of his days in isolation and in ‘sick institutes’. It is a powerful
comment on the debilitating effects of WWI.
Themes
● Tragedy of War
Disabled‘ explores the tragedy of war through a description of the conflict that
occurs in the trenches and through the emotional trauma a young soldier faces as he
mourns his old life. Despite returning from the war and surviving brutal attacks from
shells and machine guns, he feels that his life is over because he struggles to adjust
to his ‘new life’ of disability. He suffers a deep psychological trauma: the loss of his
youth and the loss of the life he treasured before the war.
● Glorification of War
The patriotic glorification of war that lured so many men to enlist for ‘hero’ status is
further explored in ‘Disabled‘. Propaganda romanticised the idea of becoming a
soldier. It depicted young women cheering men home and through the heroic status
aligned with a soldier’s uniform. The protagonist was sold this disillusionment and
joined the war to ‘look a god’ in his uniform. His utter disillusionment with war
occurred as a result of its glorification within society.
● Isolation / Exclusion from Society
The soldier consistently reminisces about his life before the war where he had
plenty of companionships, both from friends and from the opposite sex.
Following the War, he has none, making loneliness a prominent theme in
‘Disabled‘. The War not only cost him his legs but also his companionships:
an overbearing loneliness, as a result of his disability, permeates the poem.
Structure and Form
Disabled’ is a seven-stanza poem of various lengths. The poem does not adhere to a
traditional poetic form to emphasise the lack of control he now has on his life – he is
completely dependent on the nurses that care for him. This shifting structure further
mimics the soldier’s state of mind as his thoughts shift from past to present.
The soldier begins and ends the poem alone in the hospital, creating a cyclical structure.
Therefore, his continuous isolation and lack of companionship is emphasised, despite that
being the reason he joined the war in the first place.
‘Disabled‘ uses third-person omniscient narration to introduce the soldier through the
non-descript pronoun ‘he’. This further isolates the soldier as he has no identity.
Has a two-part structure: before the war and after the war. There is much mention of sport
and ‘goal(s)’. This further emphasises the shattered dreams of the soldier being described,
as the title is clear in stating that the soldier is ‘disabled.’
Rhyme and Rhythm
‘Disabled‘ is predominantly written in iambic pentameter, meaning that the lines consist of
five feet of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed. This creates a feeling of
monotony mirrored by the speaker’s current state of being as he ‘waits for dark’. However,
metrical variation is also employed by the poet for specific effects explored later in the
analysis.
Rhyme is employed within ‘Disabled’ but it is not consistent or fluid. The unpredictability
of rhyme is employed to reflect the soldier’s difficulty in accepting his current state. Fluid
rhyming would suggest an ease that this soldier certainly does not feel. The poem is
saturated with words that have a rhyming match; however, there is no pattern to it. This
imperfect rhyming creates a disjointed feeling which is again representative of the
speaker’s physical and emotional state.
Literary Devices
● Juxtaposition occurs through the consistent temporal movement from past to
present in order to emphasise the soldier’s mournful reminiscence of his life
pre-war.
● Caesura is a dramatic pause for effect, which is employed in order to dramatise
ideas. Caesuras are usually placed to create end-stopped lines and abrupt stops to
disrupt any rhythm in the poem, reflecting the soldier’s inability to move forward.
● Repetition is employed throughout the poem, prominently through the use of
anaphora. In the closing lines, the poet employs anaphora through syntactical
parallelism as he pleads for the nurses to put him to bed: ‘Why don’t they
come?…….Why don’t they come?’ This works to emphasise the futility of life and
the lack of hope that now dominates the soldier’s life.
● Metaphorical phrase ‘waiting for dark’ is representative of him waiting for death.
● Alliteration phrase ‘ghastly suit of grey’ introduces a harsh tone.
● The Simile ‘saddening like a hymn’ echoes the sentiment of mourning in churches
and funerals. He is mourning the loss of his youth.
