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Wilfred Owen

The poem elegizes a dead soldier who is moved into the sun in hopes it will awaken him. The sun once awakened the soldier but can no longer stir him now that he is dead. The rhetorical question asks why the sun can revive lifeless stars and seeds but not a rational being. The poem questions whether human advancement was meant to lead to the futility and devastation of war.

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Taibur Rahaman
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53 views1 page

Wilfred Owen

The poem elegizes a dead soldier who is moved into the sun in hopes it will awaken him. The sun once awakened the soldier but can no longer stir him now that he is dead. The rhetorical question asks why the sun can revive lifeless stars and seeds but not a rational being. The poem questions whether human advancement was meant to lead to the futility and devastation of war.

Uploaded by

Taibur Rahaman
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Wilfred Owen's "Futility"

Futlity appeared in "The Nation" on 15th June 1918. Just as in his poem
Frustration, Wilfred !en tal"s of the #rie$an%es of a !ounded man !ho they
mo$e into the sun, in thehope that it !ill &stir' him. The poet (e#ins the poem
tal"in# of a %ertain )im' *t is o($ious that the poet is tal"in# a(out the +oldier.
The anonymity points to his rele#ation of identity, and la%" of indi$iduality in a
system that pla%es the +ystem o$er the indi$idual. The anonymity of the dead
soldier may also (e employed for o(-e%ti$ity, and to render the e.perien%e
uni$ersal/so as to point to the predi%ament of any soldier. The poem fun%tions as
an ele#y for the dead soldier. The sun stands as a metaphor for the 0i$er of 1ife
here. n%e, the poet asserts, the sun's tou%h did a!a"en the man in 2uestion.
n%e upon a time, he !as &at home'. 3t home si#nifies that the man !as
%omforta(le and satisfied. The phrase !hisperin# of fields unso!n. su##ests
the possi(ility of fields yet to (e so!n, dreams yet to (e reali4ed.
The sun al!ays did a!a"e him, until this day. This su##ests the li"elihood that he
is not in a %ondition anymore to (e a!a"ened (y the sun. &+no!' stands as a
po!erful em(lem of death, de%ay and destru%tion. *t is as opposed to the !armth
of the sun. nly the ld +un 5the 6erpetuator of life7 %ould dis%ern if anythin#
!as %apa(le of rousin# the man to his senses. The line e%hoes the fa%t that no
one !ho had %rossed in to the realm of death, has (een (a%" to tell the tale of
8eath. The lines also refer to the ine$ita(ility of 8eath, and hollo!ness of life.
)en%e, the title Futility. The term 'futility' also fore#rounds the pointlessness of
!ar. 9oreo$er, it underlines the futility of e.tin%tion.
From the des%ripti$e mode in the first stan4a, the poet shifts to an interro#ati$e
and philosophi%al mode in the se%ond. The poet is in total denial o$er the death
of his fello!/(ein#. The +un !as %apa(le of !a"in# $e#etati$e entities li"e seeds,
and the hard %lays of a %old stars. While it refreshed lifeless stars, !hy !as it
the in%apa(le of endo!in# life to a rational (ein# !hose si#nifi%an%e %annot (e
understated: The poet is also a!are of Nature's o$er!helmin# po!ers that 9an/
made in$entions %annot !ithstand 5floods,tsunamis,earth2ua"e7Why %annot
Nature then re$i$e the aftermath of a man/made atro%ity su%h as !ar.
3re lim(s, so dear/a%hie$ed, are sides,
Full/ner$ed, / still !arm, / too hard to stir:
The rhetori%al 2uestion is aimed not only at the +un, the +ustainer of 1ife. *t is
also intended at the de$astatin# %on%ept of !ar in #eneral. !en too" part in
World War * as an offi%er in the 9an%hester ;e#iment. Therefore he (ore !itness
to the %atastrophi% effe%ts of !ar. )e !as depressed and dis#usted at the
distressin# and demorali4in# %onse2uen%es of the War. )e endea$oured to fulfill
the responsi(ilities to his %ountry. *n su%h a %onte.t, his poetry had a therapeuti%
effe%t on him, a release for the mi.ed emotions he !as stifled !ith.
Was for this that the %lay #re! tall: 8id 9an ad$an%e in 1ife and pro#ressi$eness
to %ome to this: 3s the poet prefi.es the ad-e%ti$e fatuous (efore sun(eams, he
illustrates ho! the sun had lost its utility $alue in the fa%e of 8eath. Was it for this
e$entual finale that the sun a!o"e the earthlin#s

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