1914
Wilfred Owen
War broke: and now the
Winter of the world
With perishing great darkness closes in.
The foul tornado, centred at Berlin,
Is over all the width of Europe whirled,
Rending the sails of progress. Rent or furled
Are all Art's ensigns. Verse wails. Now begin
Famines of thought and feeling. Love's wine's thin.
The grain of human Autumn rots, down-hurled.
For after Spring had bloomed
in early Greece,
And Summer blazed her glory out with Rome,
An Autumn softly fell, a harvest home,
A slow grand age, and rich with all increase.
But now, for us, wild Winter, and the need
Of sowings for new Spring, and blood for seed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
War Poems & Manuscripts ‘1914’
Dr Stuart Lee (1994) http://www.uv.es/~fores/PoesiaUK2005/1Owen,%20Wilfred/WarPoemsManuscripts.html (2-4-06)
POETIC COMMENTARY
The poem that I’m going to analyze is ‘1914’ by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). It was written in the context of World War I (1914-1918). Moreover, as its title indicates, it is the year of the beginning of World War I.
‘The popularity of Owen today can be explained by his condemnation of the horrors of war’ (Wilfred Owen: War Poet). The intention of the author is to involve the reader in the horror that Europe started living since the beginning of the war. He wrote this poem the year that he went back to his country, England. There, he came to terms with the war with fear because England was one of the countries that participated actively in the war. But, it was one year later (1915) when the poet enlisted in the ‘Artists' Rifles’ (Dr. Stuart Lee) and knew from first hand the war’s magnitude. For this moment, he started writing poems about feelings or situations as a soldier: ‘Happiness’, ‘Insensibility’, ‘Arms and the Boy’, etc, etc. His perspective of the war in ‘1914’ was more objective than in his next poems.
Owen starts the poem with the announcement of the war’s outbreak: ‘War broke’. Then, he describes what he thinks about war from his perspective as an English man. First of all, he associates war with the ‘Winter’ that has invaded the world and which involves ‘perishing’ and ‘great darkness’. The poet anticipates the impending tragedy and that makes way for desolation. The winter is the hardest season of the year. It is very gloomy. On the other hand, it is just a symbolic association because the World War I officially started in August. Owen relates seasons with the situation that different countries or cities are living. The countries that were at war are Germany and England = winter. The countries that in 1914 weren’t at war yet were Greece and Italy. They symbolize spring and summer respectively. These two seasons are related to peace and joy, the sun shining, flowers flowering, etc.
In the 3rd line, the poet focuses on Germany as the responsible one to start the war and for involving Europe in it. He puts Berlin as the focus of the ‘foul tornado’. It affects the reader’s opinion. Owen wants to show you that the central forces (Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria and Turkey) getting the blame for everything because he belongs to ‘The Allied Forces’ (Great Britain, France, Russia, Serbia and Belgium). (Gran Historia Universal)
Furthermore, the poet accuses ‘the central forces’ of preventing the progress. He mentioned the word ‘sails’. In 1914, the foreign trade was carried out principally by boat. Two of the characteristics of the I World War were the naval battles and the submarine existence. ‘Submarines were used to cut off the supplies to the opponents and some merchant ships (liners), were torpedoed.’ (Luis Palacios Bueñuelos). In addition, each boat that was destroyed were ‘Art's ensigns’ that ‘won’ the side that had destroyed it.
In lines 6 and 7, the author refers to the period of absence of ‘thought and feeling’ as ‘famine’. It means that, in a war, feelings are out of sight and the most important thing is to win the war. Love isn’t very present in the atmosphere. The driving forces of the war acted without mercy. They are rotten. The poet relates them to autumn. They fall down as the leaves fall of the trees in autum. Autumn is a sad season. The sun of the summer has gone and the clouds cover the sky of the cities. It is associated with darkness like winter. But, on the other hand their temperatures are different. Autumn is not as cold as winter. For this reason, autumn is a bad season but not the worst.
On the one hand, in the second stanza there is a combination of resignation and hope. On the other hand, there is a difference between the first stanza and the second one. In the 2nd, the poet makes a succession of the seasons. In lines 9 and 10, the poet associates ‘Spring’ and ‘Summer’ with Greece and Italy. These 2 countries were neutral at the beginning of the war and they lived in peace and harmony. But 3 years later (Greece) and one year later (Italy) will take part as ‘The Allied Forces’.
In line 11 the poet refers to ‘Autumn’ in a different way. It is the autumn that people lived in the countries that don’t participate in the war. It is warm and calm. They enjoy a favourable economy and take advantage of the countries at war. The poet feels sorry about his situation and the general situation that the countries at war lived. He referred to them as ‘us’, people that suffered the war and that lived in the horrible ‘Winter’ (the season that follows Autumn).
Finally, Owen has the desire to prosper and to end the war. He associates peace with ‘Summer’ again. He appealed for peace and tries to convince the reader of the necessity to stop killing and build a best world. He concludes with the recommendation to change ‘blood for seed’. He refers to the human’s blood spilled by people who have died. They must plant the seeds of peace.
The poem is composed of two stanzas. The first one has 8 lines and its rhyme is abbaabba. The second one has 6 lines and its rhyme is cddcee. It has long lines but they are simple to read. It is a poem relatively easy to understand.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Index of /~fores/PoesiaUK2005/1Owen,
Wilfred
Copyright 1995-2004 by Dr. Vicente Forés
(Valencia,
10/05/2004)
http://www.uv.es/~fores/PoesiaUK2005/1Owen,%20Wilfred/ (2-4-06)
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) ‘Biography by: Dr. Stuart Lee, 1997’ Paul Groves 11-Nov-1996 http://www.uv.es/~fores/PoesiaUK2005/1Owen,%20Wilfred/Wilfred%20Owen%20(1893%20-1918) (2-4-06)
Wilfred Owen: War Poet ‘Owen’s Work’ Eric Laermans (2001-02-01)
http://users.fulladsl.be/spb1667/cultural/owen.html (2-4-06)
Wilfred Owen Association ‘1914’ Kenneth Simcox 2005
http://www.1914-18.co.uk/owen/ (4-4-06)
Luis Palacios Buñuelos, Gran Historia Universal, “Primera Guerra Mundial”, Ediciones Nájera (Ángela Maria Sanz Aparicio), Madrid.
Vol. XXIII, capítulo 7.