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What purpose does Wilfred Owen’s poem Futility serve?
Wilfred Owen wanted to show the true cost of war, there was a lot of pro war propaganda published during the 1st world war that glorified it, Wilfred wanted people to understand that it wasn't all heroic actions but was gruesome and scary for most, he also made political comments about how wrong war was and the long term effects. Owen started writing naturalistic poems about the horror of war. He wanted to show people war isn't that great as posters say and you will die at the end from your enemy.
Wilfred Owen’s intention in using a sequence of three rhetorical questions in the final 6 lines of his WWI sonnet ‘Futility’ is to challenge his readers to find any natural or rational justification for war. Having described the miracle of human life he asks why we would want to destroy it, especially young life, so completely: “Was it for this the clay grew tall?” and his final question wonders, almost bitterly, why we were given life since we have wasted it: “- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil, To break earth's sleep at all?” Readers these days would agree with Owen but in 1918, when the poem was written, these reactions would have been seen an unpatriotic. The power of the questions is that they demand an answer – but there is no rational answer that could be given.
The term and title of the poem; “Futility”, over views: how pointless and worthless war is. Futility means that something is destined to fail. “Futility” is Owens’s belief in the worthlessness of both God and war. The poet begins the poem talking of a certain “Him” It is obvious that the poet is talking about the soldier.
"Move him into the sun". The sun stands as a metaphor for the giver of life here. "Move" is an inexact word yet we feel the movement has to be gentle, just as the command has been quietly spoken. We may have been influenced by "gently" in line 2 which reinforces the previous impression, while "touch" again not quite an exact word, is surely light. “At home” signifies that the man was comfortable and satisfied. "Whispering", shows a soft sound. “Whispering of fields unsown” suggests the possibility of fields yet to be sown, dreams yet to be realized. “Always it woke him, even in France” The sun always did wake him, until this day. This suggests the likelihood that he is not in a condition anymore to be awakened by the sun. “Snow” stands as a powerful vision of death, decay and destruction. It is opposite to the warmth of the sun. With the sun being God, the snow could be the devil? Line 7 "kind old sun" suggests the softer emotions, "old" being literally true of the sun but used here, as a term of affection. Stanza 1 seems tender, almost unchallenging. Stanza 2 is very different. “Think how it wakes the seeds – woke once the clays of a cold star.” Here Wilfred Owen is stating that the sun was capable of waking plants and seeds, and the hard “clays of a cold star” Which makes us as readers think why it is incapable of providing life, when it can refresh lifeless stars? Why can’t it resuscitate his friend now? The speaker is in denial and shock here; this is because he sees the sun as a miracle worker, a healing agent. This is also a poem of outrage. The poet is outraged at the fact that the sun cannot awaken his friend whose body is still warm so close to life, yet too far. The theme of the poem is the meaningless of life, creation and human existence. This poem is remarkable for the use of Para rhyme or half rhymes as will be noticed in the rhymes like “sun – unsown”, now – know”, “tail – toil” Also used caesura at the end of most lines for a reflection or short pause.