Introduction written by MR.D - paragraphs posted as comments by pairs from 12D
Owen’s critique of those who lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers runs as a bitter motif through all the poems in the anthology. Whilst not as vitriolic and acerbic as Sassoon in his active, and public, critique of war profiteers and the ‘red faced’ generals, Owen develops compassion, and the ‘pity of war’ as a more subtle, and emotive attack of those who sat idle, morally or hidden behind the industry of the war effort.
16 comments:
Owen presents the critique of Insensibility just as well as other poems within the section. Owen criticises those such as the government and generals who lacked sympathy and understanding towards the plight that the soldiers went though. Within the last stanza of the poem we see examples of this “But cursed are the dullards whom no cannons stuns, that they should be stones” These two lines shows no sympathy towards the soldiers, as its is merely stating what state of mind the soldiers are in, and doesn’t take into account how they got into the situation. The language within the quote does not show any scenes of emotional tenderness or loss, and demonstrates how the people at home lacked understanding about the life and hardships that the soldiers went though. Furthermore, Owen goes further by also critiquing the generals as well for their lack of understanding of the soldier’s experiences in the trenchers during the war. The tone of the quote is hollow and ignorant, Owen using this to represent the crud manner that the authority within the army and the government viewed war and the soldiers, as the soldiers were only seen as numbers and replaceable. This makes the soldiers seem less human (dehumanising) and insignificant. Owen uses the Verse form of the poem to reinstate the sharp bluntness or war and its consensuses, the imagery within it of being of stones, is put their to make us think of the soldiers as unimportant and useless, this demoralises the soldiers and yet again dehumanises them and they are not even described as being a human entity. Overall this shows how difference between Owen and Sassoon. Where Owen would target those who were left at home and did not suffer as much hardship as the soldier’s subtlety and not attack them directly, Sassoon would attack them directly showing his distaste for the war and the people who chose to stand back and not get involved with the war effort.
Sarah
In Miners Owen directly criticises the profiters of the war. "The centuries will burn rich loads/with which we groaned". The quotation attcks those who "sit soft chaired" prolonging the war to make money of soliders suffering. The idea of the prolongation of the war was one that many soliders detested as sasson and owen demonstates whithin their work. There poetic attacks were reconised by the home front as ghastley and disgraceful.
Although this poem does not specifically explain the soliders suffering it does, through an extensive use of paradox and first person narrative, criticise the profiters of the war, which is not a theme that is found as frequenley addressed throughout the rest of the anthology, and is therefor more effective as a critic's opinion on the lack of symphey towards the suffering from the home front.
Sean F & Dave K
Owen shows his critique of the army generals' lack of sympathy for the soldiers through the use of dehumanisation. This is shown in stanza two of 'The Show' where Owen writes "it seemed they pushed themselves to be as plugs...they writhed and shrivelled, killed.". By describing them as plugs it gives the reader the impression that the soldiers are just seen as mechanisms of war. Additionally, the use of the word 'killed' evokes ambiguous interpretation. It could either mean the soldiers being killed by the enemy, or by the Generals who forced them into the position where death was inevitable. The melancholy tone within this poem provokes pathos in the reader due to the half rhyme scheme, which introduces a slight note of discord, producing the effect of a depressing mood in the poem. This portrays Owen's disapproval of the Generals and t heir bad attitudes towards the soldiers. Owen's view of war isn't trying to promote it, or inspire people to sign up (propaganda) like Jesse Pope does in her poems, instead he shows his lack of support for the war and his anger at the treatment of/ feelings towards the soldiers.
Lauren and Aimee
In the poem ‘mental cases’ Owen explores the lack of sympathy and understanding towards the plight of the soldiers. Throughout this poem Owen criticises the government propaganda and the lack of sympathy towards the difficulty the soldiers are having. In the poem ‘mental cases’ this is a propaganda document, which means that the poem is giving false information to manipulate other people. Sassoon also in his poetry criticises the government propaganda. ‘These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.’ This shows there is a lack of sympathy here towards the soldiers as they have turn mental in their minds and it is like the minds are deceased. In this quote there is a tone put across that there is no consideration for these soldiers. Soldiers are known to be heroes be here it could be shown that they are nobody’s who just go out to fight the war. The word ‘ravished’ means that the soldiers have been carried away by force. Another interpretation of the word ‘ravished’ could be that the soldiers mental health has been taken away from them and they have been left their lifeless and turned physically mental in the head. In this poem there is quite a lot of irony and it talks a lot about the situations of these deprived men including the pity towards them. In this poem also there is a lot of falseness attached to ‘smiling’ and ‘laughter’. This is linked back to the propaganda and the government giving a false message across to pressure the readers. Within this poem there is an internal rhyme, this could suggest that the soldiers are hurting on the inside internally. Throughout this poem there are many questions being asked. Owen is trying to ask the readers these questions and get them to think about the war and what the men were actually suffering. However, Owen criticises this point as we have seen throughout the poem. Overall, Owen explores the lack of sympathy and understanding towards the difficulty of the soldiers and Owen does this through propaganda.
By Kirstie Churchill
In the poem ‘Mental Cases’ by Wilfred Owen, the critique of those of lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers is portrayed through the example of societies disregard for those returning from the war having suffered from ‘Shell shock’ modernly known as post-traumatic stress. Society failed to recognize ‘shell sock’ as medical diagnosis and simply regarded is as cowardly behavior on the soldier’s part. This was due to government propaganda in which the glorification of war influenced society and people believed that it was honorable and patriotic to fight in the name of their country. Owen criticizes this government fueled propaganda to war and societies lack of sympathy and understanding for those soldiers who suffered from Shell Shock. His use of particular structure and specific selection of language within the poem is used to portray this critical argument well. Owen’s use of language within the poem is selective to create an argumentative and also pitiful tone. His use of vocabulary deeply meaningful and complex also gives the poem a sense of intelligent substance, I believe used intentionally by him to make the reader take his views more seriously. An evident example of this might be words such as “multitudinous” used in the line “multitudinous murders they have witnessed”. This evident example shows such use of advanced vocabulary and the fact that it is used in a pitiful manor, making the point that the men have witnessed more deaths than they can count. The reader when reading this is obliged to take pity for the soldier. This contradicts that of the propaganda in which Owen is thus criticizing to for a critique of those of lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers. In comparison to other poetry language is used effectively by the author here to achieve the purpose of the poem’s meaning. In Siegfried Sassoon’s poem ‘Survivors language is used in a similar methodical way to criticize the same subject of that of this poem. ‘Mental Cases ‘we can therefore conclude successfully uses language to develop this critique. In comparison to some other poems wrote by Wilfred Owen we could come to the conclusion that language is used more effectively here to shape the intended critical meaning of this poem. ‘Insensibility’ a poem with similar critical interests to ‘Metal Cases’ although does use language in a similar fashion to ‘Mental cases’ in my opinion does this less effectively in comparison to this poem. Such heavy use of advanced and complex vocabulary in the language of this poem makes its use here extremely effective. In relation to this essay’s question I can conclude that language is a fundamentally used method of developing a critique of those of lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers through the direct argument against government propaganda. ‘Mental Cases’ is an evident example of this method having been implemented into a poem more effectively comparatively to other poems by the same author.
Regards,
Carl Larkin
Owens poems are dense with critique of people at home in Britain pushing the patriotic views and ideas, especially the profiteers and women as both groups of people do nothing to in real contribution to the war. In the poem Mental Cases Owen explores this idea well. Mental Cases is a relatively small poem compared to other Owen poems. The poem has 3 stanzas, 2 consisting of 9 lines and the third one of 10. This poem does well to show us the lack of sympathy and understanding of those soldiers.
‘Who are these? Who sit they here in twilight?’
This line is the opening line of the poem the line is in iambic form, which means that has 10 syllables. The line has a more upbeat sort of sound to it and is natural in the way we speak in the English language. Having an upbeat line in a strong reflective poem is strange because it doesn’t really fit with it and makes it all a little bit strange. However, Owen has done this so that the line sticks out amongst the poem in order for the people at home in Britain he is criticising can reflect on the actions. The first part of line one has a sub textual meaning. Owen knows who these people are but he’s not actually asking who are they is asking who they the ‘think’ they are. The reason for this is because as I said earlier in my writing the people that pushed the patriotic views and pressurised young men into war were people who themselves do nothing directly helping the war. Owen believes that the women are hypocrites of going to war as they would often call men who don’t serve in war, and even those who have been sent home with injuries cowards. The second part of line 1 is ‘Who sit they here in twilight?’ This line is focusing on how the people at home who push these ideas of war being good are sitting in a safe place far away from the dangers of the front line which Owen has used ‘twilight’ to show. Twilight can either mean a period in time before sunrise or just after sunset where the light is shining. It could also mean, and I my opinion his use of the word, a time of glory or success. This line is a good example of how he criticises the forcefulness from the people in Britain at the time of the war pushing young men into a war where their outcome will be nothing but pain and death. This line links well to the question as a part of the whole poem and Mental Cases shows the conditions of those that would go through Post Traumatic Stress, or shell shock that would in the time of the poem be believed to be a cowardice excuse.
owen presents his critisim against the army chiefs who keep sending large numbers of soliders to war very strongly in mental cases than any other poem.
this poem shows both lack of sympathy and understanding as seen in line 12 of stanza two "multitudinous murders".this quote shows an image of a large number of soilders dying and owen tells us that more and more soliders are sent by the army chiefs without even sympathy of whether they die or not.he uses diction clearly to express the imagery more.the alliteration is used to stress the point that it really was a big "multi" number of soliders who died.
unlike mental cases owen portrays the propaganda of the army generals more in disabled in line 29 of stanza four "smiling they wrote his lie,aged nineteen years".this quote is written in third person and he shows us an image of these generals signing a young teenager probably 15 to join the war.he stressing smiling to show that they did not undertand or have sympathy for what these men suffered at war all they really cared about is what they got out of it.owen is sucessful in presenting his critigue in both these poems.
mushiko
Owen’s use of language creates a negative portrayal of soldiers suffering from illness from the perspective of those of safe and comfortable with their unsympathetic views to bring about a change in their attitude. The poem, Mental Cases, corroborates this view succinctly as it explores divisive views between the “normal” and the “blighted”; “Snatching after us who smote them, brother, Pawing us who dealt them war and madness.” Divisive connotations are prevalent by Owens use of pronouns; ‘us, them, these’ which highlight an adversarial concept between both sets of people. The separation of both groups who are the same; as shown by Owen’s use of the word ‘brother’ to stress their sameness, would’ve forced readers of the poem to consider those with ‘drooping tongues from jaws that slobber their relish…” with the fact that they are indeed ‘brothers’ in mind and especially as it was ‘us who dealt them war and madness’. The tone in this, mental cases last couplet, seems to evoke anger and distaste as the choice words that Owen uses in the two sentences like ‘snatch, smote, dealt’ induce anger through their spiteful, spat and drawn out manner which brings out these emotions. This is a similar concept picked up in Owens ‘Insensibility’, where in the last stanza a similar tone of condescending, sermon-esque manner of speaking is picked up; “cursed, wretched, paucity, simplicity”. The scathing, acerbic tonality of anger in Owens viewpoints towards those safe and comfortable and courting unsympathetic views is apparent in both poems but I feel is more successful in mental cases for the main reason that the narrative voice that is arguably the voice of Owen himself speaks inclusive in terms of pronouns such as “us”, this makes me as a reader, and others included, feel more sympathetic and responsive to the views being projected as opposed to the attacking and separatist notion taken in Insensibility. In response to the essay question, the deft and pointed use of language that Owen has a skilful mastery of has a profound impact of the reader which alludes to its great importance in the communication of the caustic anger that Owen harbored towards the unsympathetic; without it, Mental Cases for example would just be frivolous diatribe of Owens capitulation to his inner anger rather than a direct and insightful attack.
Adonis
Owen presents effectively in Disabled the critique of those who lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of the soldiers. In ‘Disabled’ he focuses on the critique of women and how they respond to the injured soldiers.
“Now he will never feel again how slim girls waists are… all of them touch him like some queer disease”. After the war or during, the physically and mentally injured soldiers were shunned out of society and especially by women, who preferred ‘full’ and well rounded men rather then the injured ones.
This presents Owens critique of women lacking sympathy and understanding as they never fought or were actually at the war to feel all the pain and suffering the soldiers had to endure, but still managed to pass judgements and prefer the ‘full’ men rather then the injured even though it was the injured ones that risked their lives for the welfare of others.
This is one of the many critiques Owen uses in his poem’s to help support his intentional meaning across to his readers.
I think that Owen emphasises on this to raise awareness and provide insight into the soldiers lives after the war, and how they are mentally as well as physically scarred and how no good could come from war, even with the ‘patriotic’ ideas pursed by other poets.
Sameerah
In 'Insensibility' Owen presents his critique of those who lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers more effectively than in other poems from the anthology. In the last stanza of 'Insensibility', Owen presents and criticises the lack of sympathy generated from the army authority figures, such as the generals and profiteers, of whom show no human emotion towards the brutal deaths of men, a concept that Owen suggests through the line 'cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns, that they should be as stones'. This shows no sympathy within the line – as it is merely stating what the soldier's state of mind and physicality is. The language Owen uses does not portray a sense of emotional tenderness or loss, which Owen is using as a criticism of the heartless general's bleak understanding of soldier's horrific experiences. The tone of the line is that of hollow ignorance representing the crude manner in which the authority figures view war – as a statistical and economic matter rather than one in which millions are slaughtered - a subject Owen explicitly suggests earlier in the poem when he mentions the 'reckoning of their shilling', which implies that the generals are reluctant to pay soldiers for risking their lives on the front line. The use of 'cursed' suggests that those who are injured are doomed to a meaningless existance – 'that they should be as stones', which is presented through trimeter – which states bluntly the consequence of war. The connotation of the imagery of being stones is that of being incapable and unimportant – a theme of which Owen also explores in 'Disabled'. In 'Disabled' Owen concentrates on the unsympathetic attitudes of the disabled man's peers and women towards his disability, in contrast to the unsympathetic disregard and generalization of soldiers made by generals in 'Insensibility'. The line 'tonight he noticed how the women's eyes passed from him' effectively introduces how the women are unsympathetic towards the man, however the poem is presented through an omniscient speaker, whilst 'Insensibility is presented by a diegetic speaker, of whom can somewhat imitate the callous tone and demeanour of the generals, which cannot be done through the neutral tone of the speaker in 'Disabled', and therefore Owen presents the unsympathetic views more effectively in 'Insensibility' than 'Disabled'. Furthermore, the idea of being 'as stones' does not even compare soldiers to being living entities in the eyes of the generals - as if the men are disposible rooks in the bitter game of war, and this acts as a massive criticism of the authority's heartless view of soldiers. Therefore 'Insensibility' is more effective at criticising those who lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers than other poems in the anthology.
The last post was by David L!
Critique on those at home
In the poem insensibility Owen criticises the people at home because they don’t know what it is like to fight in the war. These people at home would’ve been seen as cowards as Owen writes
“Happy the soldier home
with not a notion”.
Here he is making all the people at home be seen as cowards who wouldn’t fight for their country because ‘home’ is the safest place anyone could be as they can’t get hurt or possibly killed and they are as far away from the frontline as they could possibly be meaning nothing bad could happen to them. Also ‘not a notion’ tells us that all of these people at home don’t know or have a vague idea about what could possibly be happening to the soldiers on the frontline who could be getting killed. This makes the reader feel sad towards the soldiers fighting the war because they are fighting for their country and all their family at home do not know what is happening to them but we also feel anger as they should be fighting for their country as well as the soldiers already in the war. This may also make us feel sad for the people at home because they don’t know what is happening to their children, husbands or soldiers in any relation to them.
by Daniel Simmons
In Wilfrid Owen's poem "Insensibility" he presents a critique of those at home more effectively then in any of his other poems in the selection. In his poem he explores the idea that people such as the media and government, who created the patriotic propaganda, were cowards as they wished not to take any part in the actual fighting for their country. Wilfrid Owen relates strongly to this when he exclaims "By choice they made themselves immune" which emphasizes his anger towards those who, out of choice, did not take part in the war and remained at home in safety. He was angry at the lack of sympathy shown by the media , who were at that time, pushing young boys to go to war with little or no understanding of what they were actually committing to. This lack of sympathy caused many young recruits to lie about their age, just to ensure their place fighting in the "glorious war". Due to the recruits lack of experience, many were killed off within weeks of arriving at the battlefield. This angered the officers placed there as they were receiving recruits who didn't have any understanding of what they were doing and didn't have much training of how to handle themselves on the battlefield. Another reference which Owen makes to show the ruthless anger which he had towards the government and media was "But cursed are the dullards whom no cannon stuns" Which presents his anger very vividly. It shows that the makers of the propaganda did not care about what was happening on the battlefield and it did not stun them like it did to the soldiers when a cannon went off. This shows the lack of understanding the government and media actually had as they knew nothing of the actual serious events that took place whilst on the battlefield
Javen =)
Owen Critique of those who lacked sympathy
Owen presents a critique of those who lacked sympathy and understanding of the plight of soldiers by often using pathos where he wants his readers to question themselves. He also portrays in his poems hints of sarcasm that are there to make the people who lack the sympathy and understanding to try and realise what they are doing , whether it be sending young boys to war or glorifieing the whole process that it is wrong. For example in the poem disabled Owen focusses strongly on how much the young man felt he had to go to war to please the people around him, though he also shows that on the young lads return he got no such heroic reception as he come back limbless and an outcast to society.
" Only a solumn man who brought him fruits"
This shows how the surrounding pressure and heoic image that was built up around the young man all deflated due to his loss of limbs which in itself is a critique of the people at home as it shows they are shallow.
Also in the poem Anthem for doomed youth Owen puts in a rhetorical question for those at home.
" What passing bells for those who die as cattle?" This makes the readers ask themselves a question as they have the mind to talk about the 'cowards' who dont go to war yet even the so called brave ones who do go to war get so little affection and support when they come back if they are outof the ordinary such as the young man he writes of in Disabled.
Upmost, Bradley Simson
Wilfred Owen develops a critique of those who lacked sympathy and undrestanding of the fright of soldiers in many of his poems from the selection. One in which he conveys this idea well is mental cases. for example in the poem mental cases owen trys to show people at home what war was actually like for the common soldier and critises those who profit from the war. 'surely we have perished, sleeping, and walk hell; but who these hellish?','carnage imcomparable and human squander, rucked too thick for these mens extraction'. This propaganda document aims to shock people through the physical symptoms of soliers. Owen bases the poem around is his own experience at cradlock heart, and is trying to convey the idea that people who suffered shell shock were not cowards as said by those at home but brave to go through the horrors of what they did. Most of the poem is trochee meter which creates a more insistent tune than the descreet and low profile iamb. This helps show more emotion in mental cases as the reader is suppose to feel sympathetic towards the speaker in Owens poem.
danielle wood :)
An essay on Owen's critique of those who lacked sympathy and understanding ...
It can be said that the majority of the content in Owens poetry criticizes the British and Allied population that were at home during the Great World War. Owens poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' is arguably the strongest example.
Owen uses first person narrative in this Petrarchan style sonnet, as a way of gripping the modern audience, and drawing them in to a closer, more personal level whilst the story is being told. Owens technique makes the audience feel sympathy for the narrator, as in the second stanza we are introduced to a more upbeat, graphic account of the happenings of War. By using words and phrases such as 'ecstasy' and 'just in time', and also the rule of three, 'guttering, chocking, drowning...', the audience get almost excited in the rush of madness the speaker is experiencing. However, Owen uses the third stanza to bring the mood back down and slow the pace of the poem. This brings back the sympathy the audience has for the reader, as he begins to almost blame the audience by using words such as 'you' and 'my friend’ which enhances the audiences guilt.
Owen is successful in his criticism as he uses the audience’s conscious and sympathetic feelings to his advantages. Owens shock tactics brings a reality to the audience as they begin to become aware of what was really going on at war. We can argue that soldiers would have been treated with a more positive attitude if the population at home knew this at the time of the War.
Sam Ellis.
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