A more difficult reflection this week:
Which is a more painful predicament - hopelessness, humiliation, dependency or dehumanisation? Can you link this reflection to your thoughts on Owen's intended meaning.
You need to post your reflection on the blog no later than a week after you have the lesson on the poem.
Mr. D
23 comments:
Mental Cases- Intended Meaning
Throughout this poem Owen talks about men who are suffering in the war mentally and also physically. He also talks a lot about men who are suffering from ‘shell shock’ and who are being treated in the hospital for this. I think Owen talks a lot about hopelessness throughout this poem and also the men’s minds in the war are damage because of what they have seen and experienced. This poem also creates a feeling of discomfort because there are a lot of questions being offered throughout the poem and I think they are addressed to the reader because Owen wants us to answer these questions. He wants us as a reader to answer these questions because he wants us to think about what these men had to suffer in the war and that their was no hope for them at all because they were suffering extremely. The soldiers have no hope as they cant escaped these horrible memories of war. In these poem soldiers are tortured with panic and misery because all they can think of is the landscape of war and what is actually going on. These men are tortured by their memories at the end of the poem and this is why I think this poem is called ‘Mental Cases’. This title means that the soldiers are mentally suffering from the war and are not coping. Overall hopelessness is a more painful predicament because without hope you have nothing and you need hope to survive. Soldiers didn’t have no hope in themselves and thought they was going to die. Without having hope in yourself you can not survive.
Kirstie Churchill
Intended meaning of Mental Cases
The Poem ‘The Show’ by Wilfred Owen is a particularly shocking poem. This being the deliberate intent of the author is intended to shock the poem’s readers into a realization of the mental condition of the soldiers that have returned home from the war. There are many reasons surrounding the motif of Owen to do so in the poem. Wilfred Owen himself when returned from war experienced post traumatic street the medial diagnosis for we give to the physiological damage inflicted on men through the horrific scenes they had witnessed whilst at war. In contextual information of that of the time, people did not understand that the mental condition of these mean was due to such horrific nature they had visually endured, many believed the symptoms to be a sign of cowardly behavior and was often referred to as ‘shell shock’ to those at the time of the war. Many people of military position and those in society believed those who claimed to suffer from shell shock where actually malingerers from the war, meaning they were using there condition to their advantage to prolong their return to war in a cowardly fashion. This was the perspective of many people. think Owens’s intended meaning in particularly focusing on the shell shock the men suffered with is to point out to the reader of the trauma the men suffered and that it is not an unjustifiable sign of cowardly nature to exit the war. Owen does this by personifying the symptoms and focusing specifically on the physical attributes of having shell shock. People at the time understood the trauma men who had been physically damaged suffered as they could see it before their eyes; Owen employs this method of explanation to his reader’s here. This is clear to us in the poem when it says “These are men whose minds the dead have ravished”. This personification metaphorically describes what has happened to the minds of the men who suffered shell shock, so that the reader can visualize this in their minds and gain a better understanding of the trauma and torment the men who suffered with shell shock had to endure. Owens’s argument in this poem the is very much pointed at the reader, of which h is directly trying to alter the perspective of. He does this not only with shock tactics but also to challenge the morality of the reader. He a conscientious objector in the poem, meaning he tries to questions to consciousness of the reader. This is seen in the rhetorical questions he has placed with deliberate intention to portray his intended meaning within the poem. Evident examples of this include “Who are these?” and “Why site here in the twilight?” Additionally the reflection of the painful predicaments the men now are subdued to, are shown as distressing in the poem, and is used to reinforce the shock portrayed to the reader. The hopelessness, humiliation, dependency and constant dehumanization of the men are all examples of such upsetting attributes of the men who suffer from shell shock. The voice or speaker of the poem portrays the point of views of the poem; this voice could be that of Wilfred Owen but might not necessarily be. The voice asks these questions of the reader. The reader is not actually intended to answer them, but merely to think about the implications that questions hold. The reader therefore asks the questions of themselves thus achieving that alteration in perspective of those who suffer with shell shock, Owens’s intended meaning of the poem is, by questioning the conscience of the reader.
Regards,
Antony West
Error.
My post began by referencing the poem 'The Show', this is an error, it should day 'Mental Cases. Sorry.
Ant
Mental Cases
Mental Cases follows the unique meaning of many of Owens poems. It is written in order to shock the readers so that they will understand fully just what the soldiers in war have gone through. Mental cases particularly focus, like some other poems, on using shock to really emphasise the poems meaning. This poem has a very sentimental background to it as the poem reflects a very tender stage of Owens life. Mental cases reflects on the way in which soldiers suffered horrifically in war and looks at, for the first time maybe, how soldiers become subject to shell shock and were hospitalised. This illness was something Owen went through and spent time at Craiglock Heart where he met fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon. During his time there he wrote poems with the help of Sassoon. The fact that Mental cases looks at this stage of many soldiers service suggests that Owen sees it as an important part of identifying the trauma soldiers go through.
Unlike the rest of his poems, excluding The Show, we also for the first time see a line that is not part of the poem or the title. It says ‘Being the philosophy of many soldiers’. This is an interesting line. Being means to exist. It is something that is true and natural, similar to philosophy as this is the understanding of the natural and reality of something. If someone studies philosophy they understand the world and what it has to offer. In reply to the reflection we need to do I think that this is a good example of why dehumanisation is the worst of the 4 examples. Though each of them is horrible and I believe no one would want to suffer any, dehumanisation is the worst as this gives the foundations of feeling the others. Dehumanisation is being stripped of everything, your identity, beliefs, hope (where u could get hopelessness), self dependency etc. Everything that makes someone human. That’s why I believe that dehumanisation is the worst.
Carl
Mental Cases
Wilfred Owens “Mental Cases” is a poem written with a voice of unrestrained emotion, which I assume stems from his own personal experience of mental illness brought about by war. In the context of the Great War, shellshock wasn’t recognized as an actual case of mental illness, it was instead recognized as a sign of cowardice. The direction of Owens anger isn’t explored until the last couplet of the poem where it is made obvious who Owen is discussing. What is most notable in the description of the mental patients is the dehumanization of their mental and physical states; eyes as ‘gouged chasms’ and with ‘minds the dead have ravished’. These visions of fellow men are surely those shared by those who thought this post-traumatic-stress was a sign of cowardice. This is corroborated by Owens’s use of pronouns to create an adversarial atmosphere of ‘us’ and ‘them’; ‘Ever from their hair and through their hands’ palms’, this shows how there is a separatist feeling towards the suffering men from those who dealt them war and madness. Hopelessness is another feeling intended to be imposed within the poem by Owen, in the last stanza phrases that seem to direct to the future such as ‘Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes blood-black’, these are ideas which come constantly in every waking moment so the soldiers suffering being connected to the regularity of day alludes to some sense of hopelessness as there seems to be no escape to their pain. Humiliation is directed not to the mental patients as you’d expect, but towards the supposed brothers ‘who smote them’ and ‘who dealt them war and madness’ I procured this sentiment from the placement of this naming and shaming in the poem; Owen puts this at the end as an evaluation or culmination of the feelings he has and to point direction to who puts the blame on. Out of the three ideas I have discussed I believe that dehumanization is the most significant aspect tin relation to the poem as the use of pronouns makes the separation clear and poignant. Being at one point like the mental patients focused on in the poem gives Owen a more profound understanding of it and a more empathetic writing style than he would have towards hopeless or humiliation as he had hope as he was cured and returned to the front and he, rather than it being directed at him, did most of the humiliating.
sir can you please help me purchase the history boys i have got oranges already.i will collect it after my work experience.i dont mind if its a used one and a good condition on amazon please try to make it as cheap as possible and i will pay back.sry for putting this on the bog but i aint got your email adress.i will be very greatfull its mushiko.
Poets Intended Meaning: Mental Cases
Throughout the poem ‘Mental Cases’ Owen’s speaker talks a lot about the hopelessness of the soldiers. He talks a lot about hopelessness because of the ‘Shell Shock’ they have experienced and it seems to us, the readers, that it has hurt them mentally and that they have no hope of recovering from the shock. Owen’s speaker shows dependency on the readers of the poem because of the questions he is asking. The questions he asks during the first stanza are almost telling us that the speaker of the poem is depending on us to find out the answers and that we will be able to understand what is happening in the war.
By Daniel Simmons
Poets Intended Meaning: Mental Cases
Throughout the poem ‘Mental Cases’ the speaker of the poem talks a lot about the hopelessness of the soldiers. He talks a lot about hopelessness because of the ‘Shell Shock’ they have experienced and it seems to us, the readers, that it has hurt them mentally and that they have no hope of recovering from the shock. The speaker of the poem shows dependency on the readers of the poem because of the questions he is asking. The questions he asks during the first stanza are almost telling us that the speaker of the poem is depending on us to find out the answers and that we will be able to understand what is happening in the war. He also wants us to understand what the soldiers are going through and how their lives have changed physically and mentally. Overall I think that Owen’s intended meaning for this poem is that he wants us to understand how life has changed mentally and physically for the soldiers in the war and that people have no hope of recovering from what they have experienced from their time in the war.
By Daniel Simmons
Mental cases intended meaning is to show the world the hopelessness of those who were soldiers. Owen is trying to put across that if you weren't effected physically by the war then they most likely would have been mentally. Owen himself was affected mentally by the war with shell shock. He tries to explain in this poem the pure horror of things that would cause men trauma in the war though also tries to show that the men who did get shell shock had every right to leave the war as it was an extremely terrible condition for a man to have. So Owens intended meaning of this poem is to portray to his readers that the conditions soldiers had as an outcome of the war were no joke and had a serious effect on the mens minds.
B R A D L E Y B O Y. X
mental Cases is a poem showing the effects that war had on soldiers physically and mentally. there is a subconciousness tone throughout the poem, imposing a "mental illness". Owen shows that war can be shown from many points of views, and the often questioning in the poem refers to a mad state of mind, possible shell shock? or maybe Owen wants us to answer the questions, or atempt to.. as he knows nobody that experianced war could possible answer them. the poem has a exagurated feeling to it and shows how soldiers were tormented and suffered unbarabley during war. War described as multitudeous murders has a harsh and more realistic effect to the reader, of the uncountable numbers of dead bodies. The falling rhythem, and depressed tone gives it a harsh feeling and whilst reading aloud, gives a "heavy" edge to it, making it hard to read. maybe it represents how hard it is to answer the question also, and how hard it is to imagine what the innocent soldiers went through.
Amy-Rose
Mental Cases Tim:
Owen often talks about the life of the soldiers before and after the war in order for the reader to see how the soldiers life had changed. This creates a psychological effect of the war on the soldiers.
The word "mental cases" indicates to us how the soldiers were possibly affected by certain events they'd seen. When we read on we we detect that mental cases describes exactly what was involved around the war. "Awful falsenss of set smelling corpes", this soldiers had to cope with the smell around and perhaps stare attheir loved ones dead bodies. The soldiers are physically paralyzed by thinking back to this horror trauma.
As a reader our mind also start to think of how it woud have been to experience the horror they went through. This is due to the gory image that we embroil ourselves with. So we begin to ask ourselves questions and answering them at the same time. We find this by reading the poem because it's writing in some form of a preaching tone so it's a guide for us to follow.
They feel dehumanized because the psycholocal affect of the war has taking away their individuality and personality. They've forgotten who they are as they are mentally ill.
Mental Cases
A more painful predicament out of hopelessness,
humiliation, dependency and dehumilisation,
would be hopelessness. When you know that
whatever you do in war, at home or in any
situation isn't going to help you, a total loss
of faith in yourself or others. The other predicaments are equally each painful ashopelessness however do not give as much
emotion from a character or text in a poem. Each one of these predicaments are shown in
Owen poems such as 'Dulce Et Decorum Est', 'Anthem For Doomed Youth', and especiallyin poems such as 'Mental Cases'and 'Disabled'.
Mental cases aims to shock people of the symptoms of war in stark Detail and it also focuses on symptoms such as shell shock. Owen
uses a lot of aliteration in 'Mental Cases' in the last
stanza like; 'Blood smear; night comes blood black...bleeds afresh'.
Owen's intended meaning is to shock people at home to show
what soldiers went through and what caused their shell
shock for example based on Owen's
time at Cradlock Heart.
DANIELLE WOOD
Sir I cant see wher eyour have posted what you want us to build on
Carl
Owen Mental cases
Owen wishes to show the affects of mental trauma to those at home as The poem was a particular shocking poem for me as I never knew about the mental trauma of war until reading this poem which was very shocking. The aim of this poem is to shock and to describe those affected mentally about what they see and how they act. The reason for this is because Owen himself suffered mental trauma in the war as he went to Craig Lockhart mental institute. The first sign of this the title. The title is not ambiguous. The title tells that Owen will be telling us just the mental state of the soldiers and nothing else. The first line “Why sit here in twilight?” The word twilight suggest it is the end of the soldier’s life. This may not mean death. However perhaps Owen is suggesting the mental trauma they get is the end of a normal life. Owen questions the soldiers saying why are you here in war it could be the end of your life physically or mentally?
Owen uses a very shocking line to describe what the men think about and how they suffer within war. “- These are men whose mind the dead have ravished.” This was shocking as ravished means: to violate, rape or to hold captive. .” This phrase is an oxymoron. This then makes me think that mentally the soldiers cannot get the images of death or can’t think of anything other than death. This then shows mentally the soldiers are unstable as death or the dead is holding the soldiers captive and violating their minds. This phrase is also personified as Owen wishes the audience to visualize and gain a better understanding of the trauma and torment the men suffered.
Connor.
Sir why is it that in all owens war poetry mentall cases is the only one that talks about the soldiers mentall state in specific detail.
Connor Hoskin
Mental Cases is a poem dedicated to show the state that the soldiers were in after the war. Owen talks about the shell shock that the soldiers suffered, and the physical scars they had. It uses lots of complicated words, and it provokes disturbing images to the reader to convey how messed up and confused the soldiers lives were after the war. "Mental Cases" provokes pathos in the reader, which is what Owen wanted, as he wants the reader to know the extent of the suffering the soldiers had to enudure, and that it didn't stop once the war was over either.
Mental cases is one of Owen’s best poems of pathos, he uses dehumanisation to create this effect. Dehumanisation is, in my opinion, the most troublesome and painful predicament for us as readers to look upon. As a race, humans are arguably the most successful of all and for us to send our fellow young men of to a war we have ‘dealt them’ and come back less whole than what we sent them strikes us with a sense of regret, guilt and pathos. The poem paints this image as Owen describes how the minds of men have been ‘ravished’ by the ‘dead’ and how these soldiers who return home have become more similar to animals as to humans and are ‘pawing’ at the ones who have sent them to their end. We can not reverse what the soldiers have endured and can not reverse life it’s self and for that reason I believe for a human to loose all its outstanding characteristics that make it what we, as a race, are is a most morally destroying emotion.
David K
Mental cases - intended meaning
Sarahh
i believe that meantal cases, was written to shock the reads into reliseing how bad the mental conditions were for the soldiers who fought during the war.
As well as coming back with phiscal wounds from the war many of the soldiers came back with mental illnesses. this was called shell shockk, many of the soldiers never got over this, this is was i believe that owen is trying to convey in his poem mental cases. The poem creates a scence of confusion and unease, this is created because of the questions that we are asked in the begining of the poem. we are about the people that are stuck in limbo, ever moving towards death. i believe that the poem was created to show the pain that the soliders went though. the end of stanza one and the beginnng of stanza two show half rythme! (hellish and Ravished). the sencond stanza, tells us about what the saw in the war and what made them the way they made them.
the third stanza explains what they go though every day and and how they relive the past everyday!
Mental Cases - By Sameerah
Dehumanisation, Hopelessness, humiliation and dependency and all can be categorized as being painful predicaments for any human being to feel, they all provide negative feelings and a sense of lacking positive/joyous emotions, which can be seen in more occasions then one in many of Wilfred Owens War time poems.
‘Mental Cases’ is the title of one of Wilfred Owens poem which straight away presents dehumanistion. As the soldiers, whether they are physically or mentally injured they are collectively labeled as ‘Cases’ rather then humans this shows to the reader the extent of which Owens decided to present war and could be argued to be in the first stage of consciousness of ‘anger’, as by understanding the context of how soldiers suffering from Shell shock were treated by people at home during World War One, it shows that Owens intended meaning was to once again to challenge those at home criticizing the soldiers and being patriotic.
Throughout Owens poems he illustrates to the reader the soldiers hopelessness as they have to fight in the war and not only have to suffer from the harsh reality of war but also from the harshness of the weather conditions which is shown in the poem ‘Exposure’.
During The First World War suffering from ‘shell shock’ was seen as cowardly and was not seen as an illness, so this automatically leads to the feeling of ‘humiliation’ as many soldiers that suffered from shell shock received negative responses from people back home, even though they never took part in war and felt the harsh reality of war themselves.
In addition to this another feeling that Owen presents in many of his poems is the feeling of ‘dependency’ that after the effects of war on them they have to become dependant on other people, this shown in ‘Disabled’ when the soldiers are placed in care homes and ‘pitied’ on due to their physically illnesses. In mental cases there is a mix feeling of dependency as while the soldiers suffer they need someone to be dependent on to survive.
Overall throughout Owens poems dehumanisation, hopelessness, humiliation and dependency all play a major part in the soldier’s lives after the war or during. Throughout Owens poems they are continuous themes which Owen uses to present the effects of war on the soldiers lives to raise awareness to the people at home.
In my own opinion, I think that all four qualities are equally painful and all provide negativity in any contexts there placed. I think it would be unfair to class one more painful then the other as for different people and in different contexts, one or another out the four may provide more pain then other.
Hopelessness, humiliation, dependency and dehumanization were all experienced by soldiers in war. Hopelessness meant soldiers thought there was little chance they would live or believed they were destined to exist forever with a tarnished soul, humiliation meant soldiers dignity and pride was infringed, dependency meant the soldiers independence and masculine control was lost, and dehumanization meant their humanity and morals were lost. All these consequences of war are suggested in 'Mental Cases', and the most intense predicament is unclear, and the audience will create their own opinions about what the most severe predicament may be.
There is a sense of hopelessness surrounding the whole poem. The use of intense adjectives – 'gouged', 'ravished', 'leer', 'misery swelters' create the sense of the immense strain of war, and the overwhelming impact of war which renders soldiers believing the odds are stacked against them. The poem describes the soldiers as rocking and 'purgatorial shadows', meaning the hopelessness has left the soldiers engulfed by fear, lost all sense of reality and they are merely shadows of themselves, senselessly rocking themselves into insanity.
Humiliation to soldiers, such as their carcass's carelessly being blown apart or laying limp on the floor, or them being driven beyond reality into madness, was a fearful prospect for the proud and dignified soldiers. Due to the mass of patriotism and propaganda, the soldiers knew they were being portrayed as heroes at home, and therefore the sheer shame they would be associated with if they were to die any way other then in a shower of glory is forever a burden upon their soldiers. In 'Mental cases', the soldiers are reduced to having 'drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish', presenting the poignant reality of the proud men reduced to 'dullards' (as mentioned in 'Insensibility').
Again, the soldier's pride and independence is lost in war, as they are highly dependant upon each other in war. The men are used to being the masculine and dominant figures within their families, and so to be without control and independence, they are rendered somewhat useless. Throughout the poem, I had a sense that the soldiers were clutching to each others shoulders, being led towards safety, being completely dependent on the other soldiers, 'treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter', as in a painting I saw at the imperial war museum, showing the sheer dependency the soldiers had on each other to remain alive.
Dehumanization was the consequence the soldiers found difficult to conceive, as the idea of men becoming uncivilized. losing all control and grip on morality and humanity, was extremely frightening for the men, bound with Christian values and the fear of God and hell. The prospect of soldiers becoming beasts was an idea Owen explores frequently within his poems, and in 'Mental cases' he explicitly presents the soldiers as being somewhat primitive and savage – 'baring teeth that leer', however generally Owen presents them not as fearful creatures, but as volatile and innocent – mentioning they were 'pawing', which is a non-violent but desperate action, similar to a puppy begging for compassion– which also creates a sense of humiliation and dependency.
The poem presents hopelessness, humiliation, dependency and dehumanisation as negative consequences of war, however I think that due to the sense of hopelessness surrounding the entire poem, I feel that this particular poem is focused primarily around the hopelessness of the soldiers, and the other elements are mere by-products of the soldiers hopeless state.
-David Loveland
Im sorry if this is not up your standards sir but i have only just realised that you have got my book.
In the poem "Mental cases" Wilfrid intends to shock readers into the realisation of the mental affects afflicted upon the soldiers when they returned from the war. Most people at home believed that soldiers who left the battle because of "shellshock" were cowards and were trying to run from fighting. This however was not the case as the soldiers were suffering form severe psychological trauma. This can be seen in the poem where it says "These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished". This is a personification to show that their friends and comrades who have died in battle have torn their minds to shreds because of the emotional trauma caused by it. The poem also is making a point to the people at home of saying that the soliders who are suffering from "shellshock" will never forget the things that have happened. This can be seen where it says "Memory fingers in their hair of murders" which is an important line when thinking about the use of "hair of murders". This is because the hair is supposed to be able to tell the history of someones life time and what has happened within it. Which relates to the poem as the soldiers will always remember the murders they have committed and will never forget them. The final affect of the mental trauma soldiers suffered Wilfrid owen is trying to portray is that of murder. Which can be seen as it states "Sunlight seems a bloodsmear" which shows that soldiers will remember the death and blood spilt from that war and they will never be able to wash it off as it is painted over their eyes. This could also be relating to the christian mythology of the soul. The war that the soldiers have been fighting has tainted their soul with blood which they can now not remove, possibly leading to their damnation in hell. From this it could suggest that Wilfrid Owen was angry at the people at home because even though the soldiers were defending "Great Britannia" they were also going against their religion by murdering others, which God would see as a sin.
Thanks,
Javen
Mental Cases
In mental cases, I think the poet is trying to convey us that how war wasn’t just a physical hell but also what effects it has on your mental state. Mental is the key word for this poem as this is what Wilfred Owen is talking and how being classed as mentally ill isn’t is no laughing matter as he himself was classed that and knows all about this. He uses imagery to illustrate to us how painful and horrifying it is fighting on the battle and how sometimes soldiers, people who at that time were all Christians and strongly believed in heaven and hell, they don’t even know if going to hell could be as bad as this. The battlefield it self turned into a place terrible which you can only escape by death and how he describes it as a ‘purgatory’. And even if you would somehow manage to get out there alive, you would for always be scared with the awful memories of war and be tormented day and night by things you might have seen or done and therefore never be the same and it will be like you are still in a place of endless suffer which can only be released by the touch of death. So therefore your mental state will always stay bad and the possibility of someone ever fully recovering from it is close to zero, and one day you will not be able to cope any longer. Be taking away and remembered just as another mental case.
Joseph Nathan
wmental cases-owen intends to show us that these soliders have suffered mentally and they have no choice but to keep seeing the terribble images of there friends dying and there blood and flesh scattered everywhere,these continuing images lead the soilders minds to a state of mental madness.
hopelessness is usually difined as having no hope,owen uses clear dicton as seen in stanza two of line 15 "always they must see these things and hear them" here owen tells us that because of all the things these soliders have seen they have completely lost all hope,he uses always to show that these soliders think they will never see peace.
humilation is defined as embarrssment this is seen in the quote "who are these?why sit here in twilight" stanza one of line 1.owen uses third person to try and establish an identity because it seems these soliders are embarrased of sitting in the light after what they have gone through and how it has left them mad.
the poem also shows us all the dehumanzation that took place,it left some dead and some mad,these soliders were left dependant on there hopes which owen shows was lost.
mushiko
Post a Comment