Futility
BY WILFRED OWEN
Move him into the sun—
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Iambic and trochaic tetrameter
The tone of the poem: is mournful, doubtful, and discouraging
but also has small tinges of hope throughout the poem,
especially in the first stanza
.
Titular signifier: gives the reader an insight as to what the
topic/main idea of the poem is.
Double entendre - ‘him’ could be one soldier specifically or it
could be a generalisation of all the soldiers who died whilst
serving in the war.
Emdash - draws the reader’s attention to what is being said.
Imperative verb
Personification - the sun is personified as gentle and consistent
this is shown through the words gently, whispering, and woke
him. It is used to create a deeper more empathetic connection
to the object.
Metaphor: A metaphor for their lives they left at home
the Idea of death. They’re living ‘half-lives’ due to lost potential
because they’re at war. This relates back to the futile nature of
war and that they are leaving everything in return for nothing.
Not fulfilling their potential.
Juxtaposition: The contrast between the warm sun and cold
snow.
Metaphor: The sun is a metaphor for life and the snow is a
metaphor for death.
Repetition of ‘him’, helps reinstate who they are talking about
and shows the importance of him in the poem.
Symbolism: It symbolises warmth and life.
Metaphor: For kindness in the midst of death.
A religious allusion to God as the sun.
Personification: Personifying the sun as wise and kind almost as if
it is a parental figure.
Pararhyme - these words almost rhyme.
Rhyme: snow, know
Rhyme scheme is ABABCCC
Think how it wakes the seeds—
Woke once the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides
Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
Volta - 2nd person
Imperative verb
Imagery: of the miracle of life and that the sun (symbolising
God) brought them into being.
Symbolism/religious allusion: The sun is used to symbolise God or
a higher power.
Oxymoron: cold star, a cold star is a star that has died and that
could be representing people(the clay) or the sun.
Imagery: of life and people. A life that has died recently who is
still showing signs of life (full nerved, still warm) questioning if it is
too hard to save.
Sunbeams are no longer kind and old but fatuous (silly, pointless)
this shows a sense of futility.
Rhetorical questions - to draw attention to the point or the shock
in this case.
Referring to man, biblical allusion Jeremiah 18:2-6 which states
God is the potter and mankind is the clay
Referring to war - emphasised that war was the reason for a
man to be born.
Emdash: draws the reader’s attention to what’s being said.
Metaphor: shows the bitterness and pessimistic view of the
speaker after realising the brutal reality of war.
Existential question: Links back to the poem's overarching idea
of futility/the title.
The main idea of the stanza is why God bothers if it all comes to
an end.
Rhyme: tall/all
Pararhyme: seeds/sides, star/stir
Rhyme scheme: DEDEFF