Transcript The Sentry by Wilfred Owen

The Sentry
by Wilfred Owen
LIFE EXPECTATION:
Life expectation for officers at the front was about 5 months in
1914: about 10 months in 1918.
For every officer killed 20 men were killed.
Average British Casualties a Month:
OFFICERS
ALL
RANKS
1914
900
18,450
1915
925
19,000
1916
2,154
44,000
1917
2,766
56,800
1918
3,680
75,500
At the BATTLE OF THE SOMME
on July 1 1916, the British lost 15 men
killed and 25 men wounded A MINUTE
for 24 HOURS.
“This book is not about heroes.
English poetry is not yet fit to speak
of them.
Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor
anything about glory, honour, might,
majesty, domination, or power,
except war.
Above all I am not concerned with
poetry.
My subject is War and the pity of
War.
The poetry is in the pity.”
Wilfred Owen
(1893-1918)
poet, patriot, soldier, pacifist
EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER BY WILFRED OWEN TO HIS
MOTHER, 4 FEBRUARY 1917
I have no mind to describe all the horrors of this last Tour. But it
was almost wusser than the first, because in this place my Platoon
had no Dug-Outs, but had to lie in the snow under the deadly
wind. By day it was impossible to stand up or even crawl about
because we were behind only a little ridge screening us from the
Bosches’ periscope.
We have five Tommy’s cookers between the platoon, but they did
not suffice to melt the ice in the water-cans. So we suffered
cruelly from thirst.
The marvel is that we didn’t all die of cold. As a matter of fact,
only one of my party actually froze to death before he could be got
back, but I am not able to tell how many have ended in hospital.
I had no real casualties from shelling, though for ten minutes
every hour whizz-bangs fell a few yards short of us. Showers of
soil rained on us, but no fragments of shell could find us.
I had lost my gloves in a dug-out, but I found a mitten on the
Field; I had my Trench Coat (without lining but with a jerkin
underneath.) My feet ached until they ache no more, and so they
temporarily died. I was kept warm by the ardour of Life within
me. I forgot hunger in the hunger for life. The intensity of
your love reached me and kept me living. I thought of you and
Mary without a break all the time. I cannot say I felt any fear.
We were all half-crazed by the buffeting of the High Explosives.
I think the most unpleasant reflection that weighed on me was
the impossibility of getting back any wounded, a total impossibility
all day, and frightfully difficult by night
We were marooned on a frozen desert.
There is not a sign of life on the horizon and a thousand signs of
death.
Not a blade of grass, not an insect; once or twice a day the shadow
of a big hawk, scenting carrion.
I suppose I an endure cold, and fatigue, and the face-to-face death
as well as another; but extra for me there is the universal pervasion
of Ugliness. Hideous landscapes, vile noises, foul language and
nothing but foul, even from one’s own mouth (for all are devilridden), everything unnatural, broken, blasted; the distortion of the
dead, whose unburiable bodies sit outside the dug-outs all day, all
night, the most execrable sights on earth. In poetry we call them
the most glorious. But to sit with them all day, all night .. and a
week later to come back and find them still sitting there, in
motionless groups, THAT is what saps the “soldierly spirit”….
The Sentry by Wilfred Owen
• WW1
• An old Boche dug-out
• shelled continuously
• smells
• sounds
• sensations
• death
Sounds!
• ONOMATOPOEIA
• give as many
examples as you can
of onomatopoeia e.g.
slush, guttering
• Select 3 of these and
explain why they are
effective in conjuring
up sounds and images.
This is how you should set your work out:
“hammered” suggests the force of the bombs and how the
blows are continuous.
“whizz-bangs “ is an effective description of the high pitched
scream of an approaching shell, followed by the loud blast of
the explosion
“slush” conveys the freezing temperature of the trenches
which are flooded, and the sound of the men trying to wade
through it as it reaches sometimes to their waists
• ALLITERATION
• give as many examples as
you can of alliteration
from the poem e.g. ‘and
gave us hell, for shell on
frantic shell’.
• Select 3 of these and
explain why they are
effective.
“Through the dense
din” suggests the mass
of different sounds that
fill the air so that it is
packed with noise.
Sounds!
Sounds help us to imagine the
atmosphere of the trenches and the
conditions the men had to suffer. In this
case freezing slush makes the trench
hazardous:
“And choked the steps too thick with
clay to climb.”
Through alliteration here we get the
impression of the sucking sound of
the mud as it clings to the men’s
boots.
Sensations
•
•
•
•
•
•
Incredibly realistic
descriptive language
what it smelt like
what it looked like
what it felt like
e.g. ‘the air that remained stank
old and sour’ and the soldiers
‘bled and spewed’
• select 3 examples of this type of
language - explain why they
paint such a strong picture
Word- choice
Explain what each of these words means and
why you think it has been used:
o “corpses” (line 10)
o “herded” (line 11)
o “dredged” (line17)
o “wretches” (line 27)
o “spewed” (line27)
“corpses” are dead bodies. Owen uses this word to shock us. It’s hard
to imagine the sour smell of men who had lived there for months, but it
is shocking to think that there may be dead bodies in the dugout and
therefore the smell of decaying flesh too.
“herded” is a word used to describe animals. It suggests the men are
crowded together in fear – or about to be slaughtered!
“Dredged” suggests dragging something up from the seabed – so it an
appropriate term for the way they have to scramble about under the
slush and mud to pull the sentry up for air.
“wretches” are poor scraps of people, beggars or madmen might be
described this way. These men do not seem like the proud, fit young
men who had marched off to war.
“spewed” – being sick is not a very poetic word nor a beautiful image.
It conveys the reality of the suffering. Think about what might be
making them spew.
“Oh sir, my eyes – I’m blind - I’m
blind - I’m blind!”
1. Why do you think Owen puts
direct speech into the poem?
2. What does the repetition help
you understand about the sentry?
Eyeballs, huge-bulged like squids’
1. What technique has been used
here?
2. Why is this an effective
comparison? Use the pictures
opposite to help.
Pictures from Yahoo images
Owen makes several important comments
about his own reactions to this incident. In
each case comment on what they tell you about
his feelings.
• “Watch my dreams still; but I forgot him there / In
posting Next for duty” (Line 23-24)
• “I try not to remember these things now.” (line 29)
• “’I see your lights!’ But ours had long died out.”
(line36)
Purpose/Theme
• Why did Wilfred Owen
write this poem?
• What is his message?
• Try to go beyond ‘War is
bad’.
• It was supposed to be
"The War to End All Wars."
"We're not making a sacrifice.
Jesus, you've seen this war.
We are the sacrifice."