Wilfred Owen was a Soldier Poet who spent time in several military hospitals after being diagnosed with neurasthenia, in some ways he can relate to the poem ‘disabled’ as he too was injured during war and later died in action. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, and his poem also was based mainly on a true story from when he worked in a flour mill. Both poets can relate to the poems they have written and it shows in the way they write about suffering, for only someone who has seen or been through suffering can truly appreciate the meaning of it.
He tone the poet uses in ‘Disabled’ is quite bitter and regretful; he shows this by using the past to show a certain sadness and pain he is going through. The quotation ‘About this time Town used to swing so gay’ suggests that it doesn’t anymore. Whereas in ‘Out, out-‘the tone used is quite calming and eerie at the beginning. For example, the line ‘Under the sunset far into Vermont’ lulling the reader into a false sense of security. This suddenly changes to a tone of panic in the line ‘Don’t let him, sister!’ Therefore the suffering here is shown to be unexpected. Frost shows that suffering is something to be afraid of in ’Out, out-‘as the boy cries ‘don’t let him cut my hand off’. The panic shown by the boy owing to the thought of losing a limb indicates that he is afraid of losing his hand, due to the suffering the loss of a limb will bring to him in the future. This is shown in ‘Disabled’ as Owen shows the effect that a loss of limb can have on both physical and mental suffering. Owen’s view of suffering can contrast with Frosts portrayal of it. In disabled it would seem that although suffering is something to be feared, the narrator has learned to live alongside it- despite how hard it is. In the line ‘ Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes’ Owen suggests that his disability, and the effects it