Disabled And Refugee Blues Essay

Essentially both “Disabled” and “Refugee Blues” deal with the effects of war, but in different ways. Owen deals with the effect of the war on those who fought and suffered on the battlefield, while Auden explores the effects of the war on civilians who weren’t involved in the war. This causes differences in the two poems, such as Owen’s character seeming to loose hope, while the characters in “Refugee Blues” blues still have hope and trying to survive. However similarities do arise in the structure which is due to the fact that both did suffer greatly at the hands of the War

‘Disabled’ is a third person narrative from the perspective of a disabled soldier who fought in WW1, in contrast “Refugee Blues” is a first person narrative from the

“Old yew/blossoms anew/can’t do that”. Auden tends to use the past tense in the first two lines, by making them a rhyming couplet it shows how the past was in sync and organised. it zooms in on how coherent the past was, by not continue the rhyme in the 3rd line (which is in the present tense) Auden conveys to the reader how the present is different from the past. It emphasises how times have changed, moreover the fact that there is structure in the first two line shows how the past was strutted, while the present is without order or structure. However Owen, although mostly using a BCBC rhyme scheme, often strays from it. “Institute/Wise/do/eyes/who/come/come”. This is used to show that even though there is some coherence left, the war was has taken it’s tole. The fact that he can’t seem to stick to a structure highlights that war has taken away conformity and stability from his life. Like Auden the structure shows a lack of certainty in both characters lives, it shows that the war has taken away order and coherence, in both cases it also shows that both characters can no longer conform to what is expected and live a normal