DISABLED BY WILFRED OWEN VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Title:
- The title “disabled,” contrasts with our typical image of a soldier, which is someone we expect
to be in excellent physical health this indicates the effects of war
- The simplicity of the title highlights how his identity has changed after the war as if he has been
reduced to someone labelled as disabled by society

Lines 1 - 6:
- The soldier is not named from the beginning of the poem, showing that this is the universal story
of many soldiers and unfortunately is not an isolated case (anonymity = universality)
- Keeping the soldier anonymous reiterates that this could happen to lots of different soldiers
- “Wheeled,” he doesn't even have the ability to wheel himself because he is “sewn short at the
elbow,” this highlights his dependency on other people — loss of dignity and hope
- “Dark,” can be seen as a euphemism for death, clearly highlighting how depressed he is
- His weakness is suggested through the word “shivered,” the war has weakened a young man
like him and reduced him and his strength
- Ghostlike / ghastly imagery: the plosives draw attention to the ghostly imagery - “ghastly,” and
“grey.” he joined the war effort underage and to see such a young man already “ghostly,” is quite
tragic war has sucked the life out of him / robbed him of his life
- Caesura emphasizes his disability - draws the reader's attention to the physical consequences
of war the way the line has been “sewn short,” could mirror the condition of his body.
- The voices of boys playing outside is saddening to him, this places emphasis on his loneliness,
it creates a melancholic tone. We are reminded again of his depression, he does not find joy
even in such a positive sound.
- The sounds of others enjoying their lives reminds him of the life he no longer has / the life he
lost / could have had
- The positive connotations of boys playing contrasts with the melancholic tone of a hymn
- The metaphor, “sleep had mothered them from him,” suggests that sleep brings him comfort
like a mother does to a child, because in sleep he wouldn't have to hear the joys of others
and all the good things in life that he is missing out on
- He relies on sleep to give him the comfort a mother would, this reiterates his loneliness this
also suggests that he doesn't even have any family members like a mother who would provide
that type of comfort to him anymore
- This metaphor highlights how terribly depressing his situation is after his return from the war

Lines 7 - 13:
- “Town,” the fact that he did not give the name of the town shows universality again, it could be
any soldier from any town
- The word choice of ‘swing,’ connotes playfulness and youth that he used to have
- There are connotations of hope through “glow lamps,” the young life of potential of the soldier is
shown through the word, “budded,” which is a metaphor for the young life of the soldier before
he went to war and has his life taken away from him
- The alliteration in “girls glanced,” shows the playfulness and flirtatiousness he used to enjoy in
the past which he can no longer have
- The dash at the end of the line indicates a transition from his almost nostalgic,
reminiscing state to a bitter taste of his reality that he is currently in
- The three lines from about to the dash is him reminiscing and thinking about his old life
while the dash acts as a reminder of his reality
 - After the dash he becomes more bitter and regretful
- The phrase, “in the old times,” depicts the young veteran as an old man because this is a
phrase mostly used by old people to refer to their time. This young man could very well be under
the age of 20 yet the war has forced him into mentally becoming older than he actually is
- There is a bitter tone created through the phrasal verb “threw away his knees,” - the poet
could be telling us that going to war and giving up your limbs and life is not worth the sacrifice and
a waste
- Great sense of hopelessness feeds into his depression, created by the definitive verb, “never.”
- There is a contrast between the romantic imagery of the past and the harsh rejection he faces
now in the present, “feel..disease,”
- There is a stark contrast between the past where the warmth of girls hands prevailed and his
present in which he is sitting shivering in the late cold
- His alienation is shown through the phrase, “queer disease,” the phrase shows his otherness
and how he is seen as something strange and different, it is also quite ironic that he went to
war for his country and for his people but in the end, these same people are the ones who
reject and neglect him

Lines 14 - 20:
- He looks back on the past after experiencing war and realizes how shallow and ignorant they
all were beforehand, because they were more concerned about the good looks of someone the
artist wanted to paint, “there was an artist silly for his face.”
- War has aged him within the span of a year, which links back to the harrowing effects of war on
such a young man, “last year,” he feels like an old man, completely lost his youth, supported by,
“now he is an old man,” he has lost his youth and the hope and joy that comes again
- Again definitive, “never,” give a sense of hopelessness that his body will never be the same
again
- Colour: metaphor for youth and vigor
- He is not just losing blood but also his youth and energy, “purple spurted,” he is losing that
vitality he once had
- Verb choice: “pours it down,” links with, “threw away his knees,” as a wasteful act which was
not worth sacrificing for it was a great waste — a regretful and bitter tone is created.
- The excitement / action of war is shown through, “hot race.”

Lines 20 - 27:
- It is quite ironic that there was a time where he liked getting injured because it made him look
masculine and heroic
- He used to be deemed a hero before the war which is also ironic because he joined the war for
more glory but ended up neglected
- The fact that he was drunk at the time that he joined the war shows the propaganda which was
present in those times, the impulsiveness of his decision and how young men especially were
pressured into joining the war in order to present a more masculine image of themselves to
the world
- The impulsiveness of his decision to join is shown through the short sentence, “he thought he'd
better join.” we can also link his impulsiveness to his age because at this young age people
are expected to be impulsive and the way war was depicted in the propaganda was more
adventure like and appealing to young men
- The dash indicates thought, contemplation and reflection — a pause while he thinks
- The simile “god in kilts,” shows his motivation to join the war, not to defend his country but
rather because he wanted the glory and wanted the chance to be idolised he enjoyed having
 all the glory and thought joining the war would amplify it but he ended up neglected by
those he was meant to be appreciated by HIS MOTIVATION WAS IN VAIN. HE WENT FOR
VANITY NOT PATRIOTISM
- The short clauses indicate heightened emotion
- There is a bitter tone created by the word “jilts,” and it shows that he had been rejected by
someone he probably really liked and in order to impress that person, he decided to join the
war

Lines 29 - 36
- Since he was too young to join the war, he simply lied about his age
- It is quite interesting that they smiled while writing his lie, it could be argued that they knew of his
young age but signed him off anyway because they could use an extra recruit it is also quite
ironic that they smiled because they knew they were signing his life away
- Confirmation of his motivation to go to war: the fact that he didn't even think about the germans
or austrians or whoever the enemy was this highlights the fact that he went for vanity rather
than for what was really happening as well
- Capitalization of fear, the poet is trying to highlight that there really is something to fear in
war, something that all the propaganda of the time did not depict / failed to relay to the masses
which lead to an increased number of soldiers who did not know what they were getting
themselves into, along with the pressure that the young men of the time faced not to show
fear or be manlier
- Long listing further shows that his reasons to go to war are influenced by vanity and are
completely empty of any meaning
- LONG STANZA - excitement built towards end

Lines 37 - 40:
- Short stanza - demolishes excitement built by last stanza because of its shortness, short lived
glory : war was very anticlimactic
- Capitalization of goal: suggests that people placed a greater importance on his football
performances than war which further highlights the irony in this situation
- Contrast between the way he was sent off in the previous stanza and the melancholic tone
created by the word “solemn,” suggestions that it was probably a priest through the inquiry of
his soul

Lines 40 - 46:
- His complete dependency on others is shown through this stanza
- ambiguity , “a few,” shows the uncertainty of his future - he is unsure of his future
- He is completely at the mercy of the government. It depends on them how much money he will
be compensated, “dole,” and they will also decide his quality of life. He is also now dependent
on their pity which contrasts with his motivation to join the war, glory. He joined for glory but now
all he is left with is pity, that too if they have the hearts to pity him.
- Contrast between how he used to be looked at by women showed by the verb choice, “passed,”
- shows their dismissiveness of him
- “Whole,” both literally whole as in intact physically, they have all their limbs intact and also
metaphorically whole, mentally unscathed and away from the trauma and scars of war, he
is now literally a shell of a person because of his trauma at war
- “Cold,” connotes death, weakness and loneliness
- His despair starts to increase towards the end of the poem shown through the punctuations
 - His yearning for any state of oblivion is shown through “bed,” this could also be a euphemism for
death, he just wants to die, this is the only way he will be able to attain peace, emphasizes how
depressed and hopeless this man is
- There is a link to the beginning of the poem when he was waiting for dark, another euphemism
for any state of oblivion.

Structure:
Juxtaposition throughout the poem:
- Contrasts between his memories and remembrance, nostalgia and then his realizations of
his reality, this highlights the repercussions of war
- Rhyming overlaps between the stanzas highlighting the consequences of his actions
being carried into his future
- No definite rhyme scheme, only one word does not have a rhyme anywhere in the poem,
“hands,” placing an emphasis on the fact that he will never feel that again