An Analysis of the Poem Futility by Wilfred Owen
What techniques does Owen use to communicate his feelings about ‘the pity of war’ in his poem “Futility”?
He uses techniques in the poem such as empathy as he really uses his feeling to express his ideas, while using his ideas to express his feelings. The poem begins with the narrator ordering that the man be moved into the sun; this leads us to believe that the narrator is of a high rank than the person he was talking to, someone of low rank would not be giving orders to someone who outranked him.
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown. (2- 3)
The sun is personified in this poem; the sun is described as gently touching the man, rousing him from sleep, which is a motherly thing to do. The sun woke the man briefly, and his last moments were filled with memories of his childhood on a farm. The sun whispers to him, which is another human quality. Fields half-sown has a dual meaning: first, fields are only partially seeded (it's the beginning of planting season); second, it is a metaphor for a life not fully lived. Many soldiers in WWI were barely eighteen years old, and hadn't even had the opportunity to experience life.
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. (5-7)
The sun had always roused him before, but this time was different. There is a contrasting of sensations: sun (warmth and life) and snow (cold and death). The man is unable to be revived, because the sun is being partially blocked by the snow. The "old sun" is the only thing that can save him now. The sun is once again personified by the narrator referring to it as "kind."
Think how it wakes the seeds-
Woke once the clays of a cold star. (8-9)
The sun is life-giving; it makes seeds and men grow. The sun is considered a dwarf star, whose temperature ranges from three thousand to ten thousand Kelvin (K). A massive star's (temperature is around
He uses techniques in the poem such as empathy as he really uses his feeling to express his ideas, while using his ideas to express his feelings. The poem begins with the narrator ordering that the man be moved into the sun; this leads us to believe that the narrator is of a high rank than the person he was talking to, someone of low rank would not be giving orders to someone who outranked him.
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown. (2- 3)
The sun is personified in this poem; the sun is described as gently touching the man, rousing him from sleep, which is a motherly thing to do. The sun woke the man briefly, and his last moments were filled with memories of his childhood on a farm. The sun whispers to him, which is another human quality. Fields half-sown has a dual meaning: first, fields are only partially seeded (it's the beginning of planting season); second, it is a metaphor for a life not fully lived. Many soldiers in WWI were barely eighteen years old, and hadn't even had the opportunity to experience life.
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. (5-7)
The sun had always roused him before, but this time was different. There is a contrasting of sensations: sun (warmth and life) and snow (cold and death). The man is unable to be revived, because the sun is being partially blocked by the snow. The "old sun" is the only thing that can save him now. The sun is once again personified by the narrator referring to it as "kind."
Think how it wakes the seeds-
Woke once the clays of a cold star. (8-9)
The sun is life-giving; it makes seeds and men grow. The sun is considered a dwarf star, whose temperature ranges from three thousand to ten thousand Kelvin (K). A massive star's (temperature is around