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How Successfully Does The Writer Compare The Idea of Sport and War in Disabled

The writer analyzes how successfully Wilfred Owen compares war to sport in his poem "Disabled". Owen implies that the soldier was once physically fit and enjoyed playing football, but is now "legless" due to the war. He compares the soldier bleeding on the battlefield to playing in a hotly contested football match. Owen also discusses the camaraderie between soldiers, likening it to team spirit in football, while contrasting the hostility caused by war. The analysis examines how Owen uses football references and imagery to draw parallels between war and sport.

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Sam Shohet
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2K views1 page

How Successfully Does The Writer Compare The Idea of Sport and War in Disabled

The writer analyzes how successfully Wilfred Owen compares war to sport in his poem "Disabled". Owen implies that the soldier was once physically fit and enjoyed playing football, but is now "legless" due to the war. He compares the soldier bleeding on the battlefield to playing in a hotly contested football match. Owen also discusses the camaraderie between soldiers, likening it to team spirit in football, while contrasting the hostility caused by war. The analysis examines how Owen uses football references and imagery to draw parallels between war and sport.

Uploaded by

Sam Shohet
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How successfully does the writer compare the idea of sport and war in disabled?

Disabled is a poem by Wilfred Owen about the horrors of war. Owen compares war
to sport throughout the poem. In this essay I will discuss how the writer successfully
compares war and sport.

Owen implies that the man was physically fit. He was a footballer who once,
ironically, enjoyed a “blood-smear down his leg,” this is ironic as the soldier is
“legless”. The phrase “blood-smear” implies something sinister and dark. The word
“legless” emphasises that Owen feels like he is lacking something that is integral to
him. The poems lack of a chronological order infers that the soldier is flashing back
to his ‘battle scars’ from the football field where he felt proud as it symbolised his
hard work; but now he is left “legless” and without pride or support.
Furthermore; the reference to the ‘hot race’ as he bled his life away is taken up by
Owen in the sketch of the man’s sporting career in stanza four, which echoes bleakly
when Owen states that the ‘some cheered him home’ but not ‘as crowds cheer Goal’.
This shows that whilst the soldier had fought for his country it was not viewed as
good as a sports victory. The word “hot” can be a reference to a hot war meaning
that the soldier was in constant fire and it was a struggle to stay alive on a day to
day basis and even when he was dying he had the will to fight for survival.
Lastly, Owen talks about the “esprit de corps” between the soldiers. However it is
also a reference about the camaraderie between the men on the football fields.
Owen uses the analogy of loosing a football match as a comparison to loosing a
battle. The use of football is contextually relevant as football was used to overcome
hostility between soldiers in WW1. This contrasts with fighting that worsened the
relations between the soldiers and made them dehumanise the other soldiers.
In conclusion

(ran out of time)

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