I've gathered from this poem that Owen is talking to his lover- the women out of the war, and how for him, he has lost his love for women because the war seems so much more important. Each stanza begins with words that are generally associated with a woman, and yet at the end of each stanza, they hold a grimmer tone. The rhyming helps link his, in the pattern a,a,b,b,b,a --> the inside "b" lines full of emotion of what has happened, surrounded by references/contrasts between women and war.
The first stanza begins with, "Red lips are not so red", automatically creating a compare and contrast between women and war. Each feature of the woman lacks the strength that the war had. "Red lips" are not as red as the "stained stones kissed by the English dead". The word "stained" serves to create that red color without saying it, comparing it to the red lips of a woman, and then "kissed by the English dead" develops the contrast, saying that the dead dying are much more touching and emotional. Owen talks directly to a woman- "O Love, your eyes lose lure". The next stanza follows the same format- beginning with "Your slender attitude", creating the figure of a woman and her personality, which is not so striking as "limbs knife-skewed". Each characteristic of women, "Your voice sings not so soft", "Heart", "dear voice", "though your hand be pale", is belittled by the war, and small in comparison. The voice of the "wind murmuring" and the silence of those who once coughed is more memorable. In a way, Owen is blaming the love that the soldiers feel for the ones safe at home. The women are what the soldiers are fighting for, and though they "trail your cross through flame and hail", they die. And so Owen is perhaps commenting on how the fierceness of the war overbears whatever attributes women have. Whatever women may do- sing, or send their love, it matters not because they are no comfort to war.
Owen also blames a bit of God- those whose limbs are "knife-skewed, rolling and rolling there where God seems not to care" reveals the idea that the soldiers at war are alone- away from faith and love, and although they believe in it, "Till the fierce love they bear", this eventually leads to their fate- "cramps them in death's extreme decrepitude." The contrast, from "fierce love" to "decrepitude", reveals the sudden change of the emotions soldiers go through. They volunteer, they fight for what they believe in, but quickly the sights that they see, the deaths they witness, have taken that away- and they feel alone. "Decrepitude" gives the meaning of tired, worn out, and abandoned- much like the soldiers feel.
The title of the poem, "Greater Love", speaks of the loss of the love they once had- of women, of God, of glory- and their newfound purpose. Owen speaks of war both as something of awe and something of horror. The phrase, "Now earth has stopped their piteous mouths that coughed" gives a fearful feeling, but it also adds a bit of holiness to the war- the "earth has stopped" gives the idea of a greater power, and a righteousness in ending the pain "piteous" soldiers had gone through. By this, I think Owen is making the point that the soldier's ideas of love has been warped- a woman's voice is the "wind murmuring" representing those "whom none now hear", and how a heart beats harder not because of a girl but because they've been shot. By "Greater Love", Owen does not mean he love's the war, but that he feels much more duty, emotion, and connection to war and his fellow soldiers than he does back in his own country.
As an interesting note, in one of my previous blogs I mentioned how in "Regeneration" there is a scene where one of the soldiers in the hospital mentions that war sometimes feels "sexy", and I wonder if this could have anything to do with the comparison of women to war.
The first stanza begins with, "Red lips are not so red", automatically creating a compare and contrast between women and war. Each feature of the woman lacks the strength that the war had. "Red lips" are not as red as the "stained stones kissed by the English dead". The word "stained" serves to create that red color without saying it, comparing it to the red lips of a woman, and then "kissed by the English dead" develops the contrast, saying that the dead dying are much more touching and emotional. Owen talks directly to a woman- "O Love, your eyes lose lure". The next stanza follows the same format- beginning with "Your slender attitude", creating the figure of a woman and her personality, which is not so striking as "limbs knife-skewed". Each characteristic of women, "Your voice sings not so soft", "Heart", "dear voice", "though your hand be pale", is belittled by the war, and small in comparison. The voice of the "wind murmuring" and the silence of those who once coughed is more memorable. In a way, Owen is blaming the love that the soldiers feel for the ones safe at home. The women are what the soldiers are fighting for, and though they "trail your cross through flame and hail", they die. And so Owen is perhaps commenting on how the fierceness of the war overbears whatever attributes women have. Whatever women may do- sing, or send their love, it matters not because they are no comfort to war.
Owen also blames a bit of God- those whose limbs are "knife-skewed, rolling and rolling there where God seems not to care" reveals the idea that the soldiers at war are alone- away from faith and love, and although they believe in it, "Till the fierce love they bear", this eventually leads to their fate- "cramps them in death's extreme decrepitude." The contrast, from "fierce love" to "decrepitude", reveals the sudden change of the emotions soldiers go through. They volunteer, they fight for what they believe in, but quickly the sights that they see, the deaths they witness, have taken that away- and they feel alone. "Decrepitude" gives the meaning of tired, worn out, and abandoned- much like the soldiers feel.
The title of the poem, "Greater Love", speaks of the loss of the love they once had- of women, of God, of glory- and their newfound purpose. Owen speaks of war both as something of awe and something of horror. The phrase, "Now earth has stopped their piteous mouths that coughed" gives a fearful feeling, but it also adds a bit of holiness to the war- the "earth has stopped" gives the idea of a greater power, and a righteousness in ending the pain "piteous" soldiers had gone through. By this, I think Owen is making the point that the soldier's ideas of love has been warped- a woman's voice is the "wind murmuring" representing those "whom none now hear", and how a heart beats harder not because of a girl but because they've been shot. By "Greater Love", Owen does not mean he love's the war, but that he feels much more duty, emotion, and connection to war and his fellow soldiers than he does back in his own country.
As an interesting note, in one of my previous blogs I mentioned how in "Regeneration" there is a scene where one of the soldiers in the hospital mentions that war sometimes feels "sexy", and I wonder if this could have anything to do with the comparison of women to war.
nice post. i agree with most of what you said about women not being enough. you seem to convey that Owen feels more commited to the war than women,but i thought he was sarcastic when he was saying this. I mean what sounds more appealing "red lips" or the blood of your fellow soldiers staining stones? i hes satirizing the way soldiers nobley go off to war expecting glory, but just die purposelessly in the end. this sort of misunderstanding can also be related to how after the war if the soldiers made it home they really cant relate to thier lover anymore becuase of what theyve seen, and the girls just wouldnt understand because they havent seen war. i talk about that on my blog. But i dont really think that this poem talks about life after the war like the "repression of the war expierience" is, but you sort of assume that if love becomes meaningless during war after the wars over and if the few soldiers go home to lovers, it wont work out.overall i agree with you on love not being enough
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
I agree that Owen may be sarcastic that he finds war "romantic", but there are two things I was trying to say: 1) In an earlier blog, there was a part in the novel "Regeneration" by Pat Barker where war was described as "sexy", perhaps suggesting... something- I guess that the women back home did not compare with the war, and 2) while the war was not something they loved, it involved deep relationships, putting one's life in the hands of others and thus having a stronger bond than any soldier/person could have back at home, even in the arms of a lover. So yes, the soldiers cannot relate to their lover anymore, because what they've seen, and also perhaps because it might not seem like enough. Now that I think about it, Owen might have been a homosexual, and this is kind of implied in this poem as well.
ReplyDeleteI heard someone else mention that this poem had homoerotic implications, interesting idea didn't think of it that way before. In class we said that this was a response to before the mirror. How do you think that this homo-erotic notion relates to that?I can definitely see that commradery from other soldiers becomes more valuable than that of a female lover, in terms of emotional understanding, but i don't necesaryily think this homoerotic. This reminds me of Bill and Jake talking, and how Bill admits that he is fond of Jake, they have true brotherhood, and in America this fondness would make people think they're gay. It is quite possible that this poem could be homoerotic, its not overtly said, i can assume it would veiled in those days, so its a definite possiblity.
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