Insensibility

Insensibility

by Wilfred Owen

I 
Happy are men who yet before they are killed
Can let their veins run cold.
Whom no compassion fleers
Or makes their feet
Sore on the alleys cobbled with their brothers.
The front line withers.
But they are troops who fade, not flowers,
For poets’ tearful fooling:
Men, gaps for filling:
Losses, who might have fought
Longer; but no one bothers.

II
And some cease feeling
Even themselves or for themselves.
Dullness best solves
The tease and doubt of shelling,
And Chance’s strange arithmetic
Comes simpler than the reckoning of their shilling.
They keep no check on armies’ decimation.

III
Happy are these who lose imagination:
They have enough to carry with ammunition.
Their spirit drags no pack.
Their old wounds, save with cold, cannot more ache.
Having seen all things red,
Their eyes are rid Of the hurt of the colour of blood for ever.
And terror’s first constriction over,
Their hearts remain small-drawn.
Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle
Now long since ironed,
Can laugh among the dying, unconcerned.

IV
Happy the soldier home, with not a notion
How somewhere, every dawn, some men attack,
And many sighs are drained.
Happy the lad whose mind was never trained:
His days are worth forgetting more than not.
He sings along the march
Which we march taciturn, because of dusk,
The long, forlorn, relentless trend
From larger day to huger night.

V
We wise, who with a thought besmirch
Blood over all our soul,
How should we see our task
But through his blunt and lashless eyes?
Alive, he is not vital overmuch;
Dying, not mortal overmuch;
Nor sad, nor proud,
Nor curious at all.
He cannot tell
Old men’s placidity from his.

VI
But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,
That they should be as stones.
Wretched are they, and mean
With paucity that never was simplicity.
By choice they made themselves immune
To pity and whatever moans in man
Before the last sea and the hapless stars;
Whatever mourns when many leave these shores;
Whatever shares
The eternal reciprocity of tears.

Meanings of Insensibility

Wilfred Owen presents the situation of insensitivity of the soldiers when they demonstrate raw courage in the battlefield. The main idea of the poem “Insensibility” is the dullness that creeps into soldiers, making them eschew finer human passions and become insensitive to common feelings.

 Meanings of Stanza -1

Happy are men who yet before they are killed
Can let their veins run cold.
Whom no compassion fleers
Or makes their feet
Sore on the alleys cobbled with their brothers.
The front line withers.
But they are troops who fade, not flowers,
For poets’ tearful fooling:
Men, gaps for filling:
Losses, who might have fought
Longer; but no one bothers.

The speaker, who happens to be Owen himself, tells us about the soldiers that they are happy if they lose their compassions and become cold before getting killed. No compassion can jolt these soldiers who are cobbled with their brethren when their feet feel sore in the alleys. However, the speaker states that the soldiers are not flowers who fade with the passage of time. The poet says that tears well up in his eyes when he thinks about these foolhardy men who fill just the gaps after they are killed. Their loss does not seem like a loss as nobody worries about them though they might have lived longer to fight. The poet states that even the soldiers do not feel compassion and that they might have lived longer in the battle, yet nobody worries about them. The latent irony shows the callousness of the people and authorities. The stanza adds to the main theme of callousness and soldiery.

Meanings of Stanza -2

And some cease feeling
Even themselves or for themselves.
Dullness best solves
The tease and doubt of shelling,
And Chance’s strange arithmetic
Comes simpler than the reckoning of their shilling.
They keep no check on armies’ decimation.

Owen states that the situation for soldiers becomes so desperate and insensitive that they cease having feelings even about themselves. Their senses become dull. This dullness stops them from feeling about the incessant shelling that teases them to life. In the midst of this, the chance becomes a mathematical question as somebody gets killed by chance which is simpler than counting money. That is where there is no counting or impact of counting of the dead soldiers that the poet calls “armies’ decimation.” This stanza mocks the causalities, destruction, and death in an ironic tone, showing that the poet wants to accentuate the theme of insensitivity further.

Meanings of Stanza -3

Happy are these who lose imagination:
They have enough to carry with ammunition.
Their spirit drags no pack.
Their old wounds, save with cold, cannot more ache.
Having seen all things red,
Their eyes are rid Of the hurt of the colour of blood for ever.
And terror’s first constriction over,
Their hearts remain small-drawn.
Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle
Now long since ironed,
Can laugh among the dying, unconcerned.

Amazingly, the poet praises those who lose their imagination and become highly realistic in the midst of war. The reason is, the poet says, they carry ammunition and do not stay behind even in imagination as their “spirit drags no pack.” They do not feel the pain in their old wounds. They do not think the redness of blood is as dangerous as their eyes, and everything else around them has already turned red. Their hearts do not feel the terror of war. Their senses become dull, and they can laugh among the dead soldiers as the battle has removed their senses. This stanza shows how soldiers lose their senses. This stanza further adds to the main idea of the insensitivities the soldiers demonstrate on the battlefield.

Meanings of Stanza -4

Happy the soldier home, with not a notion
How somewhere, every dawn, some men attack,
And many sighs are drained.
Happy the lad whose mind was never trained:
His days are worth forgetting more than not.
He sings along the march
Which we march taciturn, because of dusk,
The long, forlorn, relentless trend
From larger day to huger night.

Owen beautifully presents the arrival of such soldiers at home. These soldiers become entirely insensitive to everyday happenings. They have no idea how every morning, the soldiers attack and kill each other when some of them breathe their last. However, the boy who has not got training in soldiery is very happy as he is a sensitive person. His days are important for him as he forgets everything. He sings even when he is in the army and continues marching with others who are silent with them. He breaks the trend of lonely, long, and terrible days and nights through his song. The poet wants to state that trained and untrained soldiers have a difference, and this difference lies in the insensitivity of the soldiers.

Meanings of Stanza -5

We wise, who with a thought besmirch
Blood over all our soul,
How should we see our task
But through his blunt and lashless eyes?
Alive, he is not vital overmuch;
Dying, not mortal overmuch;
Nor sad, nor proud,
Nor curious at all.
He cannot tell
Old men’s placidity from his.

Owen presents another aspect of soldiering. He states that we are wise as we besmirch our name when we think that we are going to commit a sin by killing somebody, as the blood would stain our souls. He is of the view that they cannot perform their task without looking into reality through “blunt and lashless eyes.” That is why an alive soldier is not important, and a dead one, too, is not of much significance. He is feelingless. He does not feel sad, proud, or curious. He even cannot find out the significance of the repose of an old man. The poet means that a soldier becomes entirely insensitive. Therefore, this stanza adds further to the main theme of insensitivity.

Meanings of Stanza -6

But cursed are dullards whom no cannon stuns,
That they should be as stones.
Wretched are they, and mean
With paucity that never was simplicity.
By choice they made themselves immune
To pity and whatever moans in man
Before the last sea and the hapless stars;
Whatever mourns when many leave these shores;
Whatever shares
The eternal reciprocity of tears.

Following showering praise on the insensitivities, Owen states that the dullards are cursed as no one cannot stun or awaken them from their insensitive stupor. He is of the opinion that although the soldiers should be considered stones, they are mean and wretched with a paucity of everything. However, although it seems their simplicity, yet it is not. Owen states that the soldiers think that though they are immune to human passions and compassions such as pity, mourning, and moaning, they are actually between the devil and the deep sea. Whatever the people mourn when they leave this world or the shores of this world, assuming it is a sea, there is just reciprocity of tears. They know when they kill or get killed, somebody is going to mourn and shed tears. This stanza completes the main idea of insensitivity.

Summary of Insensibility

• Popularity of “Insensibility”: Wilfred Owen, a distinguished British poet, wrote ‘Insensibility’. It is a narrative poem about the untimely death of soldiers. It was first published in 1920. The poem speaks about the bravery and courage of the soldiers. It also illustrates how they are treated as subjects in war and are killed mercilessly.
• “Insensibility” As a Representative of Sorrow: This poem is an expression of sorrow. The speaker narrates the like soldiers participating in the war. The poem begins with a declaration that men can never be happy and contented in war. If they want to perform well on the battlefield, they need to desensitize themselves. They should let their blood run cold because sooner or later they are going to die.
  He presents a heart-wrenching picture of the soldiers walking on the dead bodies of their fellow soldiers just to show that even the strong and beautiful souls are not free from the grasp of death. However, their bodies are just statistics for the world, as no one cares about their personal loss and emotions. While talking about the aftermaths of war, the speaker claims that war snatches away spirituality. The soldiers eventually become insensible. They are haunted by the looming shadow of death after they have returned from the war. What, however, stays in the minds of the readers is the way he documents the miserable plight of the war soldiers.
• Major Themes in “Insensibility”: Death, sufferings, and warfare are the notable themes of this poem. Throughout the poem, the speaker tries to explain the true emotions and sufferings of the people taking part in battles. Though they are aware of their possible death, they happily hide their fear and emotions. Their primary focus is to fight in the war as if the war is part of them. They do not even care about their lives. The speaker also talks about the attitude of the world toward surviving soldiers. Sadly, no one understands the damage war brings or sees their wounded soul. Soldiers spend their lives, perplexed after witnessing death and pain. It becomes difficult for them to catch the normal pace of their lives.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “Insensibility”

literary devices are tools that represent a writer’s ideas, feelings, and emotions. They also make the text appealing to the readers. Wilfred Owen has also used some literary devices in this poem to make it appealing. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been listed below.

1. Symbolism: Symbolism is a use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings different from their literal meanings. Here ‘All things red’ symbolizes blood and destruction of war. The ‘Last sea’ symbolizes approaching death.
2. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same lines. For example, the sound of /s/ in “Before the last sea and the hapless stars” and the sound of /r/ in “His days are worth forgetting more than not” and the sound of /f/ “For poets’ tearful fooling”.
3. Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things with their five senses. For example, “Sore on the alleys cobbled with their brothers”, “But they are troops who fade, not flowers” and “Happy the soldier home, with not a notion.”
4. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /f/ in “But they are troops who fade, not flowers,” and the sound of /s/ in “Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle” or “We wise, who with a thought besmirch”.
5. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /e/ in “How should we see our task.”
6. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; instead, it continues in the next verse. For example,

“Their senses in some scorching cautery of battle,
Now long since ironed,
Can laugh among the dying, unconcerned.”

7. Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical question is a sentence that is posed to make the point clear. For example, “But through his blunt and lashless eyes?”

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “Insensibility”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are six stanzas in this poem, each varies in length.
2. Free Verse: Free verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free-verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below are suitable to be used as a quote in a speech while talking about the hardships people endure during and after wars. You may also quote these lines to encourage people to spread peace instead of war.

“Happy the soldier home, with not a notion
How somewhere, every dawn, some men attack,
And many sighs are drained.”