Disabled Flashcards
“Disabled” (title)
Contrast to typical image of a soldier: someone in excellent physical health - indicates the harrowing effects of war
“He” (line 1)
Shows anonymity - universal story of many soldiers
“wheeled chair” (line 1)
Shows dependency on others
“dark” (line 1)
Is a euphemism for death
“shivered” (line 2)
Suggests weakness
“ghastly suit of grey” (line 2)
Plosives draw attention to ghostly imagery
”.” (line 3)
Caesura emphasises disability
“Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn” (line 4)
- Serves to emphasise his loneliness
- Positive connotations of boys playing contrasted with the melancholic tone of a hymn - he cannot see the joy in anything
“sleep had mothered” (line 6)
Metaphor - sleep brings comfort like a mother does to a child
“Town” (line 7)
Shows universality
“swing” (line 7)
Connotes playfulness and youth
“glow-lamps” (line 8)
Connotes hope
“budded” (line 8)
Metaphor - young life of a soldier
“girls glanced” (line 9)
Alliteration - playfulness / flirtatious
”-“ (line 9)
Transition
“In the old times” (line 10)
Depicts the young veteran as an old man
“he threw away” (line 10)
Phrasal verb = bitter tone - not worth the sacrifice
“never” (line 11)
Adverb - definitive - hopelessness
“feel again how slim Girls’ waists are[…]All of them touch him like some queer disease” (lines 11-13)
Contrast from romantic imagery to harsh rejection
“queer” (line 13)
Shows otherness
“silly” (line 14)
Shallowness, ignorance, naivety
“last year.” (line 15)
War has aged him
“old;” (line 16)
Effect of war
“will never” (line 16)
Hopelessness
“colour” (line 17)
Metaphor - youth, vigour
“Poured” (line 18)
Verb - wasteful act
“half his lifetime lapsed” (line 19)
Metaphorically lost his life
“hot race” (line 19)
Excitement / action of war
“purple spurted” (line 20)
- Signifies energy and vigour
- Assonance gives emphasis to moment
“One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg” (line 21)
Irony & contrast
“shoulder-high” (line 22)
Deemed a hero - irony & contrast
“he’d drunk a peg” (line 23)
Decision made on impulse
“He thought he’d better join” (line 24)
Short sentence reflects impulsiveness
”-“ (line 24)
Dash indicates reflection
“god in kilts” (line 25)
Simile indicates motivated by glory & chance to be idolised
“That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg” (line 26)
Short clauses indicate heightened emotion
“jilts” (line 27)
Bitter tone - implies he was rejected
“Smiling” (line 29)
Heartlessness
“lie;” (line 29)
Indicates young age - vulnerability & naivety
“Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt, and Austria’s, did not move him” (line 30-31)
Highlights naivety
“Fear” (line 32)
Capitalisation - stresses the terror of war
“jewelled hilts[…]and hints for young recruits (lines 32-35)
Listing reveals influenced by vanity empty patriotism
“Goal” (line 37)
Capitalisation - greater importance place on performance in football than war
“solemn” (line 38)
Contrast to the send off of cheers and drums - melancholic tone
lines 37-39
Short stanza - short-lived glory & anti-climactic
“a few” (line 40)
Ambiguity - uncertainty of future
“And do what things the rules consider wise, And take whatever pity they may dole” (lines 41-42)
At the mercy of the government - dependent
“Passed” (line 44)
- Contrast
- Verb choice - dismissiveness
“whole.” (line 44)
Literally & metaphorically
“cold” (line 45)
Connotes death, weakness, loneliness
”!” (line 45), “?” (line 46)
Punctuation indicates increasing despair
“bed” (line 46)
Yearning for state of oblivion
