Explore how the poems ‘Out Out’ and ‘Disabled’ use language and structure to present ideas

of futility of life. By Archie Joyner.

In the poem ‘Out Out,’ written by Robert Frost and the poem ‘Disabled,’ written by Wilfred

Owen, ideas about the futility of life are presented. This is shown in how the boy in the poem

“Out Out” loses his youth and innocence after being involved in his accident. The futility life is

reinforced when he loses all his purpose in society when he loses his hand as he can no longer

work. As well as this, the poem is only one stanza long and this presents the boy's life as being

futile because it symbolizes how he was only able to live a small part of his life. Similarly, in the

poem ‘Disabled,’ written by Wilfred Owen, ideas of futility of life are portrayed through how the

boy in the poem loses his value in society after he goes to war and suffers a horrible injury which

again parallels ‘Out Out’. This also shows how Wilfred Owen is presenting society as being

shallow and not caring about veterans who served in the war in the way they turned their back on

the soldier. Here, he could be drawing from his own experiences as he was in the war and

suffered from shellshock so he could have a firsthand perspective of being forgotten about by

society which presents ideas as life being futile because if someone fights for their country and

gets injured instead of being praised, they are forgotten about by society which means that their

efforts could have been futile. Also, in ‘Disabled’ the soldier’s youth and innocence are lost

during the war and because of his injury he is almost waiting for death, and this shows how he

lost his youth in the war, and it symbolizes how the injury took away his reasons for living life.

The narrative voice of "Disabled” is in third person and in “Out Out” the narrative voice is

mixed, this gives the poems a sense of detachment which reflects how society is turning their

back and leaving behind the boy and solider in the two poems because they offer no value to

their life and society. Both poems present life as futile. However, it could be said that ideas of
futility of life are negated in “Out Out” and “Disabled”. This is shown by in “Out Out” his death

is not due to predestiny and because of his own actions and in “Disabled” life is presented to

have value in how he was popular and had a successful life before he went to war.

In the poem ‘Disabled’, written by Wilfred Owen and the poem “Out Out” life is presented as

being futile because the soldier and boy are presented as young and innocent when they sustain

their injuries and how they both lose their innocence and youth. Owen uses repetition of “now”

to always bring the reader back to the present, this aids in the contrast of the soldier's life before

he goes to war and the life after the war when he returns injured which conveys how he was

younger when he was injured as the contrast in his life mimics the contrast in his age. The loss of

the boy's youth is conveyed by Owen in “half his lifetime lapsed”. The alliteration of “lifetime

lapsed” mimics how easily his youth was taken by war because of how easy the words are to say,

and this shows how the soldier’s life is worthless if his youthfulness and innocence can be taken

while he is still young. This, coupled with the metaphor “half his lifetime,” shows that the boy’s

lifetime has metaphorically already passed because for the next years of his life he will spend his

time in an institution being forgotten about by society which is conveyed in “why don’t they

come and put him into bed? Why don’t they come?”. Firstly, the rhetorical questions here, paired

with the other structural feature of repetition conveys a sense of vulnerability which symbolizes

how the soldier is still young which is reinforced by the soldiers dependance on nurses which is

shown in “why don’t they come”. The tone of this line is desperate and the dependence on others

that is shown portrays the boy as being young which shows how his life was futile because when

he sustained his life ruining injury, he was young. Again, his loss of innocence and youth is

shown through “what things the rules consider wise”. The personification of the noun “rules”
conveys how the rules will hold all the power over him and how he will have no freedom which

shows loss of innocence as when people are younger there are less rules to follow so his lack of

freedom due to rules symbolizes how he has lost his youth and how his life is futile. Similarly, in

the poem ‘Out Out,’ written by Robert Frost, the boy is presented to be young when his accident

happens but also his accident being the reason for his loss of innocence. Frost shows this in

“child at heart”. The technique of pathos creates a feeling of sympathy for the boy because he is

losing his life when he should not be doing the work which is implied by “heart”. This reinforces

how life is futile by emphasizing how young the boy is when the accident happens through how

“heart” has connotations of being truthful and pure, which is associated with youth, portraying

the boy as still being a child when the accident happens. He is again presented as losing his

youth because of his attitude towards work which is conveyed through “saved from work”. The

verb “saved” implies that the boy looks at work like it is a chore, something he does not like

doing, which symbolizes how in a capitalistic society people of lower status must work to have

any part in society and to continue to survive. Here, life is being presented as futile by Frost by

“that a boy counts so much”. Firstly, the fact that he is referred to as “a boy” has very innocent

connotations which conveys his youth. Also, “counts so much” shows irony because in this

situation if he stopped, it would have saved his life and retained his youth as the accident would

not have happened. The futility of life is again shown in how he loses his youth by the work he is

doing which is conveyed in “doing a man’s work”. The loss of youth is emphasized by the

juxtaposition of the “man’s work” and how he is constantly labeled as being a “boy” throughout

the text. Structurally, the tonal shift between him being infantilized and having been portrayed as

being young and innocent to when he loses his hand because of the “man’s work” again

emphasizes the juxtaposition between the job he is forced to do to survive due to the capitalistic
society and how he is portrayed as innocent throughout the text. This harsh juxtaposition depicts

life as futile as he is forced to do “a man’s work” when he is a boy which presents him as young

when his accident happens.

Life is presented as futile in both ‘Out Out’ and in ‘ Disabled’ when, in both texts, the boy and

the soldier lose their purpose in society after their accidents. This is reinforced by how society

turns its back and forgets about them as they now have no value to them. This is shown in ‘Out

Out’ by “he saw all spoiled”. The verb “spoiled” is a metaphor for how his life may be ruined

because of his accident. “spoiled” has connotations of being rotten and gone off. This implies

that the boy is useless prior to death, and he has lost his value to society and just like rotten fruit

he is going to be thrown out and forgotten about by society. This coupled with “then the boy saw

all”. Structurally, the monosyllabic nature here mimics the realization of the boy as he

understands how he no longer has any value to society because his only purpose came from work

due to society being capitalist. Moreover, the metaphor of “saw all” conveys how the boy

realizes how he has no value in society because he has lost his hand. This means that he cannot

work which is reinforced by how he loses his value in society which is shown in “no more to

build on there”. The metaphor “build” shows how the boy’s life is as good as over because he

has lost his hand and he cannot work, which is conveyed using the verb “build” to show his

inability to work with his injury, which is his only way of survival because of capitalist society

as he cannot gain any money unless he does a job he should not be doing as he is still a boy.

Furthermore, because it is near the end of the piece, it tonally gives a sense of finality as there is

no more to add to his story, and it shows how he has lost his value in society. The boy's life is

presented as being futile in ‘Out Out’ in “Don’t let him cut my hand off- the doctor”. Here, the
boy’s “hand” is symbolizing his value in a capitalistic society because of his only way to gain

wealth and survive is to work. So, when the boy does not want his hand to be removed it shows

how worthless his life is, as he now has no purpose in a society where he must work to survive.

Moreover, the soldier in ‘Disabled’ is also shown to of lost his purpose and value in society

when he comes back from war. He is also presented to have been forgotten about and society has

turned its back on him. This is conveyed in “some cheered him home”. The determiner “some”

gives a sense of how shallow society is as it conveys that the members in society forgot about

him through the way it indicates that a fraction of people that cheered him in football cheered

him back from war. Also, it shows he is cared about less by society after he comes back from

war with his injuries as it contrasts how he was seen off to war which is conveyed in the

juxtaposition of “drums and cheers” with “some cheered him home”. As when he was seen off it

was with “drums and cheers” this implies a big celebration, and this, coupled with the structural

juxtaposition of the sizes of the two stanzas, emphasizes that how society did not care about him

when he returned from the fighting injured. When he is sent off to war the stanza is larger in size

and when he returns from war the stanza is a lot smaller. This is reinforced by “but not as crowds

cheer goal”. The direct comparison of the two “cheers” emphasizes how the boy was almost

worshipped for his sporting prowess, but society forgot about him and turned its back when he

came back injured from war. This could be Wilfred Owen showing the reader how society is

shallow and how his own sacrifice in war was not valued by society and the soldier’s sacrifice is

not either. Society is again shown to disregard the soldier from the poem ‘Disabled’ in “passed

from him to strong men that were whole”. The verb “passed” has connotations of declining or

rejecting something and in this case the women’s eyes passing over the boy symbolizes how

society has passed up on and rejected him because of his injury. The metaphor of “whole” shows
how the women, who here symbolize society, prefer the men that are not affected from the war

which the boy is physically. This shown through the literal meaning of “whole” as the boy has

lost limbs, and in the case of society it means he cannot work and therefore is worthless. Also,

society prefers men who are mentally “whole” which the soldier is not because he feels as

though he is unmanned by his injuries as he can no longer interact with women or anyone in

society on an intimate level because they have all turned their back on the boy. This is conveyed

by “passed from him”. The verb “passed” implies that women did not want to be romantically

involved and left him after his accident at war and this again presents his life as worthless and

futile as the soldier valued his interactions with women as shown by Owen in “to please his

Meg”. Firstly, the possessive pronoun “his” portrays to the reader how the soldier and “Meg” are

in a relationship through how the pronoun gives a sense of protectiveness. Also, it is ironic how

the soldier went to the war to impress women but when he came back from war, he was ignored

by them.

Futility of life is shown in ‘Out Out’ because the boy is a victim of the accident, and it shows

how his death is predestined which presents him as not making any choices, which conveys his

life as being pointless. Life is presented as being futile in ‘Disabled’ by how his injuries are not

predestined and it happens from the naive and uniformed choices he makes. The boy’s death is

portrayed to be predestined in ‘Out Out’ by “So. But the hand was gone already”. Here “So”

shows a time jump in the narrative from when the accident happened and because it is followed

by “the hand was gone already” it indicates a forgone conclusion and this hints at the boy’s death

being predestined therefore presenting life being futile as there is nothing the boy can do to

change his path. The metaphor “But the hand was gone already” conveys that the accident was
always going to happen and that he had no choice in the matter. The adverb “already” presents

the boy’s fate as being predestined as it shows how the boy had lost his hand before the accident

had even happened because it was fated to happen. This presents his life as being futile through

the fact that everything that will happen to him cannot be changed by what he does because it is

fate. The accident is also portrayed to be part of his destiny through “as if to prove the saw knew

what supper meant”, here the personification of the “saw” conveys the boy’s death to be

predestined as the “saw” attacked him and he had no choice for anything else to happen. The

“saw” attacking him and him not having a choice to avoid the accident is reinforced by the verb

“leaped” which has connotations of being predatory and to move quickly. This again portrays the

boy as not having a choice and the accident being fated because he could not move out of the

way of the predator which is the “saw”. This coupled with “snarled and rattled” again creates the

sense that the “saw” is a predator through the zoomorphism as the verbs “snarled” and “rattled”

could be compared to a roar of a dangerous predator. Structurally, the first stanza of the poem is

fast paced and there are few breaks and pauses. Tonally, this gives a sense that the boy has no

escape from his predestined life, and this shows how life is presented as futile through the fact

there is nothing he can do to escape the inevitable accident. Here, Frost could be presenting his

life in this way to show that the boy will never escape the capitalist society that he lives in. In the

poem ‘Disabled’, it is shown that the boy’s own naïve choices that lead to his injuries from war.

This is conveyed in “he liked a blood-smear down his leg”. The “blood-smear” shows how he

values people viewing him as masculine and brave, and this is one of the main reasons he

chooses to join the army and fight in the war which is a very naïve reason to go to war as it does

not consider the dangers of the conflict and the possibility of death. The soldier’s near fatal

accident is presented as not being predetermined and to happen because of his own choices in
“he’d look a god in kilts”. The godly metaphor shows that he values power and status as he joins

the army to be viewed as a god when he wears his “kilts,” which is the army uniform and Owen

presents this as a naïve decision through how when he joins the army and gets injured, he loses

any power and status he had before the war in society. Furthermore, the metaphor could also

convey how his appearance is vitally important to the boy in “Disabled” and he joins the war to

appear more attractive to women which is shows life being futile because he is making the

choice to join the war when he is very uninformed about the danger the decision holds. The boy

valuing attractiveness is also shown in “jewelled hilts”. The adjective “jewelled”, portrays how

he associates war with his gaining riches and value which expresses how the boy romanticizes

the idea of war and being a soldier and this shows his naivety through the irony of how the boy

romanticizes the idea of war and decides to join but it results in him losing his value and purpose

in society. Life is again presented in futile in both poems by how in ‘Disabled’ the boy’s

uniformed and naïve when he “threw away his knees”. Firstly, the metaphor paints his regret

about going to war as the saying “threw away” his ability to move and play sports. Furthermore,

it could be interpreted that the knees are symbolizing his life so when he says he “threw away his

knees”, he is also saying he threw away his chance at having a good life. Moreover, the “knees

could also symbolize his chance at being loved, so the poet is inferring that the boy threw away

his chance at being in love. “Threw away” could also imply carelessness and convey how the

boy does not understand the consequences of going to fight in the war. He is again shown to join

the war effort in the wrong manner in “thought he’d better join”. This line in the poem is tonally

blasé and this shows he is casual in his approach to war. These two techniques together show

how the boy’s accident was not predetermined and that it was because of his own decisions he

made because he was naïve and uninformed which emphasizes the futility of life in the poem.
However, the poems “Out Out” and “Disabled” could be presenting the value of life which is

shown by how in “Disabled”, he has a successful and popular life before his naïve decisions

which result in his accident and in “Out Out” life is presented as not being futile through the

beautiful scenery and how it could be presented how the boy’s fate was not predestined and it

was the fault of his own actions. The incident is shown to of happened because of his own

actions in “he must have given the hand”. Here, “given” symbolizes how he sacrifices the hand

to the saw. The act of the symbolism of “given” for sacrifice has connotations of worship so it

could be seen that the saw is godlike. Furthermore, the symbolism of sacrifice conveys how the

boy willingly sacrifices his hand to capitalistic society and industry which is part of his actions,

and this conveys how his life is not futile. Moreover, this is reinforced by “neither refused the

meeting”. Here the noun “meeting” symbolizes firstly when the saw hits the boy’s hand.

Secondly, it also symbolizes the meeting of the boy and his loss of value in society because of

the incident as it means he can no longer work which again he does not “refuse”. The beauty of

the scenery around the boy depicted in the opening stanza in “Out Out” also conveys his life as

having purpose and value through how it gives him something to live for. This is conveyed in

“Five mountain ranges one behind the other”. Here the pastoral imagery in “mountain ranges” is

being used to romanticize and idealize the boy’s country lifestyle and therefore give him

something to live for. Furthermore, here in the opening stanza “one behind the other” could be

being used to symbolize how this is only one stage in the boy’s life and that there are many other

stages or “mountain ranges” for him to explore if it wasn’t for his accident. In the poem

“Disabled”, life is presented to have value by how the soldier lived before war and how he was

popular and successful. This is presented in “carried shoulder high”. This is after a football
match before the war and firstly the imagery shows the soldier who is being “carried” to be

above everyone else and this symbolizes the boy to be held in high regard by his peers and to be

popular. Furthermore, it could symbolize him being of a higher status than them socially and

potentially him being idolized as a hero in his life before war and these things portray his life as

having purpose and value. Also, the boy’s life in “Disabled” is shown to have purpose and for

him to be popular by the way he interacts with women before he goes to war which is shown in

“girls glanced lovelier”. Here the alliteration “girls glanced” mimics how the looks from the girls

were flirtatious through and the pluralization of “girls” coupled with the comparative “lovelier”,

used in this context, implies how the soldier gains more sexual attraction than others in society

and his life before the war which conveyed how he was popular and highly valued by members

of society before the war which presents his life as not being futile in the poem.

To conclude, in both the poems ‘Disabled’ and ‘Out Out’, the poets Wilfred Owen and Robert

Frost present life as being futile through how the boy and the soldier in the poems lose their

youth after their accidents but also how they lose all their value and purpose in society.

Furthermore, in the case of ‘Out Out,’ the boy’s death and life are predestined by fate and,

therefore, his life is futile. However, it could be said that life is not presented as futile through

how the boy’s accident in ‘Out Out’ could be because of his own actions and he has something to

live for because of the beautiful scenery around him and how in ‘Disabled’ the boy had a

successful life before he went to war and was popular among women and his peers presenting his

life as having value. The boy’s life is presented as more futile in “Out Out”, because the boy dies

in the poem whereas the soldier in “Disabled” survives his injuries. Also, as the boy’s death in
“Out Out” could be predetermined he has no choice to alter his fate but in “Disabled” if the boy

were more informed and less naïve, he could have prevented his injuries.

Commentary

I chose to write about ideas of futility of life because of how the poems convey the message

about how life is futile throughout. However, I also chose “Out Out” and “Disabled” because

they both provided an interesting counter argument against how they presented life as futile.

Furthermore, I chose these two texts because of the similar ways they present futility of life, for

example, how the boy and the soldier lose their value and purpose in society after having their

accidents. Furthermore, both the boys in the poems are presented as losing their innocence and

youth because of their accidents, which was a key point in how the poets presented life as futile.

Moreover, I deliberated comparing the poem ‘Disabled’ and ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo,’

predominately because the poem has themes of conflict and suffering which are themes that are

also conveyed in ‘Disabled’. Additionally, I could have contrasted the pieces, as the citizens in

‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ are determined to persevere and go on with their lives but the

boy in ‘Disabled’ is ready to welcome death to end his suffering. However, I did not compare

these poems because of how the poem “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” presents the people's
lives in the poem as having hope as love for one another survives even throughout conflict. I also

thought about comparing the poem “Still I Rise” with “Out Out” or “Disabled” as it shows how

the characters are rejected by society and how they have no value in it. However, I decided not to

compare this selection of poems because in “Disabled” and “Out Out” they have no hope about

ever being valued in society but in “Still I Rise” the character is determined to fight back against

societies stereotypes. From writing the essay I learnt that life can be futile if naïve decisions are

made and that society can be shallow if you serve no purpose.