Poem Title The Parable of the Old Man and

the Young
Anthem for Doomed Youth Dulce Et Decorum Est Futility Disabled Mental Cases
Idea/s The deaths of young men in the
war are unnecessary, against
Christian ethics and contrary to
the will of God. Those in
authority have the power to
end the war but are too proud
to do so.

The deaths of young men in
the war are unnatural and
dehumanising. The poem
also explores the grief of
families and lovers who have
lost someone.
If you could personally
witness the horror of death
on the front, you would
abandon the traditional
patriotic ideas about the
nobility of dying for your
country.
The tragedy of a young mans death.
The poem suggests that creation or
the evolution of life was futile if
young lives are being destroyed in
the war.
The ongoing suffering of young men
who volunteered to fight in the war and
are now disabled. The lack of care or
respect shown to these men now they
have lost their youth and their health.
Those involved in the war are responsible
for the psychological suffering of soldiers
with shell shock.
Form Does not use a traditional
poetic form, although it
resembles a sonnet.

Sonnet Does not use a traditional
poetic form.

Takes the form of a short elegiac
lyric the length of a sonnet though
not structured as one.
Does not use a traditional poetic form.

Does not use a traditional poetic form.
Structure A fourteen line first stanza and
a rhyming couplet at the end.
The poem does not adhere to a
traditional structure, reinforcing
Owens idea that the world is
out of order.

Octave eight lines
Sestet six lines
The poem uses a traditional
structure, however the
poems theme is very
different to a traditional
sonnet.
Four irregular stanzas Two seven line stanzas. A regular
rhyme scheme, however Owen uses
pararhyme or partial rhyme.
Irregular stanza length and rhyme
scheme

Does not have a rhyme scheme
Metre (Rhythm) Loosely uses blank verse (ten
syllables per line)

Loosely uses iambic
pentameter (ten syllables
per line)

Loosely uses iambic
pentameter
Eight syllables per line, however the
first and last lines of each stanza are
shorter, six syllables.
Iambic pentameter ten syllables per
line
trochaic metre (stressed syllable followed by
an unstressed syllable) creates a falling
rhythm, depressed and heavy
Imagery Combines the biblical story of
Abraham and Isaac with
imagery from the front
parapets and trenches.

The poem juxtaposes the
ritual of a traditional funeral
with the horror of death on
the front.
A series of images from a
funeral are contrasted with
guns, shells and the pale
faces of grieving lovers .
The final image is a
drawing-down of blinds
Exhausted soldiers
marching at the end of the
day like old beggars under
sack
A man choking on
poisonous gas and dying.
He is thrown on a wagon
the blood/ Come gargling
from the froth-corrupted
lungs
A still warm body being dragged
into the sun. The sun waking that
man in the past, and waking life on
Earth.
The first stanza introduces a soldier who
is in a wheeled chair as he has lost his
limbs. Subsequent stanzas describe his
life before the war.
Describes the horrific scenes which have
caused posttraumatic stress disorder, and
the physical changes in the soldiers
themselves.
Other poetic
techniques
Appropriation Owen uses
much of the Bible narrative
directly in order to create his
own version.

Exclamation When lo! An
angel called him out of heaven

Symbolisim Offer the Ram of
Pride instead of him.
government and military
leaders are unwilling to sacrifice
their pride and are choosing to
kill their own sons.


Personification the
stuttering rifles rapid
rattle, The shrill,
demented choirs of wailing
shells

Onomatopoeia - the
stuttering rifles rapid rattle

Repetition of only, no
and not emphasises the
way the young men have
been denied a respectful
death

Personification haunting
flares, tired, outstripped
Five-Nines

Simile like old beggars
under sacks, like a devils
sick of sin


Imperative commands Move him
into the sun, Think how it wakes
the seeds challenges the reader to
feel involved in the situation.

Personification the sun
whispering of fields unsown
represents the peaceful life the
soldier lived before the war.

Symbolism the unsown field
represents the unfulfilled life of the
dead soldier
Sensory imagery he will never feel
again how slim/ Girls waists are, or how
warm their subtle hands
The warm contact he had
experienced is contrasted with the
present All of them touch him like
some queer disease

Rhetorical questions are used in the
final stanza to express the hopelessness
and abandonment the disabled soldier
feels Why dont they come?

The use of a third person perspective
gives the questions a broader
implication Owen himself wants to
Symbolism - "purgatorial shadows",
"twilight" these men are stuck between
life and death.

Personification Memory fingers in their
hair of murders they are tortured by their
memories

Blood imagery treading blood from
lungs, "Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night
comes blood-back", dawn is like a wound
that bleeds afresh" - their world is
unnatural and gruesome
First person plural Pawing us who dealt
them war and madness the reader is
invited to share the responsibility for their

know why this man has been neglected. suffering.