the tales of billy john
Discuss the presentation of personal tragedy in ‘Disabled’ and ‘Out, Out’
Both ‘Out, Out’ and ‘Disabled’ describe specific injuries to young men. ‘Out, Out’ is set in 1910 and was written by Robert Frost, who wrote the poem after reading a news article about an accident. ‘Disabled’ was set in 1917 and written by Wilfred Owen; he wrote the poem because he had fought in the war and wanted to document his thoughts about it. Both poems were written around the same time, however the two poems were written about accidents that occurred in different places. ‘Disabled’ was written about an injury that happened during World War 1 and ‘Out, Out’ was about an injury that happened just before the war on a farm. ‘Disabled’ talks about a man who was hurt in the war and had to have some of his limbs amputated whilst ‘Out, Out’ is about a child who suffers injuries after losing control of a power saw and dies from blood loss.
One similarity between the two poems is that both of the victims were very young. The boy who died from the power saw was still in school and the boy who was injured in the war was also young. Both of the people were arguably too young to be doing what they were doing. ‘Out, Out’ says: “Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart.” and the person in ‘Disabled’ was too young to be fighting in the war.
Another similar point in the two poems is that other people lack concern for the two young men affected. In ‘Out, Out’ the last lines end like this: “And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” These last two lines imply that the family get on with life and forget about what happens. ‘Disabled’ mentions that the nurse didn’t really care about the injured man; she acted like he was not as important as other people because of his disability.
Also, both poems give points about how the injuries could have been easily avoided. In ‘Disabled’ it uses words like ‘threw away’, which gives the idea that he was careless to be injured. In ‘Out,
Both ‘Out, Out’ and ‘Disabled’ describe specific injuries to young men. ‘Out, Out’ is set in 1910 and was written by Robert Frost, who wrote the poem after reading a news article about an accident. ‘Disabled’ was set in 1917 and written by Wilfred Owen; he wrote the poem because he had fought in the war and wanted to document his thoughts about it. Both poems were written around the same time, however the two poems were written about accidents that occurred in different places. ‘Disabled’ was written about an injury that happened during World War 1 and ‘Out, Out’ was about an injury that happened just before the war on a farm. ‘Disabled’ talks about a man who was hurt in the war and had to have some of his limbs amputated whilst ‘Out, Out’ is about a child who suffers injuries after losing control of a power saw and dies from blood loss.
One similarity between the two poems is that both of the victims were very young. The boy who died from the power saw was still in school and the boy who was injured in the war was also young. Both of the people were arguably too young to be doing what they were doing. ‘Out, Out’ says: “Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart.” and the person in ‘Disabled’ was too young to be fighting in the war.
Another similar point in the two poems is that other people lack concern for the two young men affected. In ‘Out, Out’ the last lines end like this: “And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” These last two lines imply that the family get on with life and forget about what happens. ‘Disabled’ mentions that the nurse didn’t really care about the injured man; she acted like he was not as important as other people because of his disability.
Also, both poems give points about how the injuries could have been easily avoided. In ‘Disabled’ it uses words like ‘threw away’, which gives the idea that he was careless to be injured. In ‘Out,