Apologia Pro Poemate Meo

Wilfred Owen

This document will be a useful resource if done well. You each have a part to play in this.

There are three basic ways to construct an IOC

1 Go through it stanza by stanza discussing ideas, language features and you go.
2 Start by discussing the purpose, audience, tone, key ideas. Then expand on those key ideas by
discussing specific lines/images/quotations.
3 Start by focusing on the main idea or the main message in the poem and then discuss how the
language, structure, imagery etc contribute to that.

Not one of these ways is the correct way. You need to organise your IOC in a way that best demonstrates your
skills.

This document has about 15 pages. The poem has nine stanzas. The first nine in the class - alphabetically -
will write a commentary on their one assigned stanza. Fill the page. The remaining people in the class have
been assigned a specific question. Answer it in one page. Use the contents table below to locate your page.

Contents:
Apologia Pro Poemate Meo Text of the poem
Stanza 1 - Nick Ainge-Roy
Stanza 2: Isaac Beck
Stanza 3 - Luiz Buck
Stanza 4 - Alex Burchell
Stanza 5 - Mathew Clarke
Stanza 6 - Ed Davies
Stanza 7 - Sam Guest
Stanza 8 - Charlie Hantler.
Stanza 9 - Kyu Kim
The imagery in the poem -Josh Quon and Tim Shiels
Owens overall purpose in this poem - Calvin Tan
The audience and its relationship with the poem - Nick White
The overall tone of the poem - Keith Woo
 Apologia Pro Poemate Meo
I, too, saw God through mud--
The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled.
War brought more glory to their eyes than blood,
And gave their laughs more glee than shakes a child.

Merry it was to laugh there--

Where death becomes absurd and life absurder.
For power was on us as we slashed bones bare
Not to feel sickness or remorse of murder.

I, too, have dropped off fear--

Behind the barrage, dead as my platoon,
And sailed my spirit surging, light and clear,
Past the entanglement where hopes lie strewn;

And witnessed exhultation--

Faces that used to curse me, scowl for scowl,
Shine and lift up with passion of oblation,
Seraphic for an hour, though they were foul.

I have made fellowships--

Untold of happy lovers in old song.
For love is not the binding of fair lips
With the soft silk of eyes that look and long.

By joy, whose ribbon slips,--

But wound with war's hard wire whose stakes are strong;
Bound with the bandage of the arm that drips;
Knit in the welding of the rifle-thong.

I have perceived much beauty

In the hoarse oaths that kept our courage straight;
Heard music in the silentness of duty;
Found peace where shell-storms spouted reddest spate.

Nevertheless, except you share

With them in hell the sorrowful dark of hell,
Whose world is but a trembling of a flare
And heaven but a highway for a shell,

You shall not hear their mirth:

You shall not come to think them well content
By any jest of mine. These men are worth
Your tears: You are not worth their merriment.
Stanza 1 - Nick Ainge-Roy

I, too, saw God through mud--

The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled.
War brought more glory to their eyes than blood,
And gave their laughs more glee than shakes a child.

The first line starts with the personal pronoun I, showing that Owen is writing as if he is still in the
trenches. I interpret the first line as Owen speaking of how he only sees God when he has lost all
hope in the muddy trenches. The word too makes it seem like Owen is one of many who has turned
to God in this hopeless time.

The next line describes the soldiers that the mud is caked on. Owen describes the soldiers as
wretches, people who are unhappy or unfortunate. Owen juxtaposes this by referring to their smiles,
an odd thing to mention about hopeless men trapped in the trenches.

The final two lines of the stanza refer to the men and their attitude towards war. At the outbreak of
World War I, many young men enlisted in the army because they thought the war would be an
adventure and a chance to see the world. Owen describes this attitude in line three by saying War
brought more glory to their eyes than blood,. To these young men, the war was a chance to bring
honour and glory to themselves and they did not realise the bloodshed and slaughter that war actually
involved.

The final line of the stanza speaks of the soldiers gay and exuberant approach to battle. Many men
were sent off with great fanfare and celebration. These men treated the war as something
lighthearted and so they departed with a smile on their faces and laughter ringing from the ships.
Owen also mentions children in this line as a way of drawing attention to the soldiers themselves.
Children are very innocent, and so would these men have been as many of them were not full time
soldiers and would never have seen battle before. It also refers to the age of the soldiers. Many young
men, some as young as 16, lied about their age in order to get into the army and so would still have
been children when they left for the front.
Stanza 2: Isaac Beck

Merry it was to laugh there--

Where death becomes absurd and life absurder.
For power was on us as we slashed bones bare
Not to feel sickness or remorse of murder. peel

The dash -- in the first line of the stanza indicates that there will be an upcoming list of things that
were merry in the War. This line is then juxtaposed to the following lines of the stanza, as the list
that he creates next is not what one would typically associate with merry.

The 2nd line of the stanza illustrates the preposterousness of the War. Here, Owen questions the very
meaning of war and continues to even question the meaning of life.

The use of power in the 3rd line is interesting, as Owen initially leads the reader to believe that the
power being referred to is the ability to rip someones flesh from their bones. The enjambment
between lines 3 and 4 is key here, as the writer uses bathos to form an anticlimax and sink the
reader back down. This is caused by the fact that power in the 3rd line refers to the soldiers ability
to suppress their sickness or remorse from their acts in the War. This illustrates a stark picture of
the War: those fighting are only human and can experience the same emotions as everyone else.
Owen contrasts the imagery of the slashed bones with the sometimes fragile emotions of the
soldiers.

In this stanza, the author uses contradictory ideas to emphasise the harsh imagery of the 2nd-4th
lines. Owen writes in a satirical manner in order to compare the way in which the war was advertised
to the soldiers before they joined the army, with the soldiers experiences at war. This indicates that
the merry times that everyone had said that they would have at war are in fact pretty crap.
Stanza 3 - Luiz Buck

I, too, have dropped off fear--

Behind the barrage, dead as my platoon,
And sailed my spirit surging, light and clear,
Past the entanglement where hopes lie strewn;

The use of I shows a personal response from the narrator, he has dropped off fear, which may
imply that he has lost all fear for the war he is in. This may show the show the military attitude for
soldiers not to be afraid in combat. Soldiers have to act in a way where they de-humanise themselves
and so do not feel emotion in such a situation. Additionally, when the narrator says too, the soldiers
around him are reacting in the same manner.

Barrage is when there is bombardment, showing the narrator the setting of the poem as in a heavy
war area, where there is a horrific atmosphere. This is enforced by the dead as my platoon, showing
there are soldiers around him that have died from the barrage. Additionally as Owen was a lieutenant
of a platoon, the use of the word my shows his leadership role and that he has taken on a role of
accepting responsibility for the death of soldier, albeit that he could not have done anything to prevent
the death of them in such a horror of a war.

The narrator feels his spirit surging, light and clear, perhaps he feels confident and aware of what he
is doing. Light and clear insinuates to the audience that he knows of the actions he is taking. This is
may seem unusual in war due to the nature of injury and the senseless taking of young life. Also this
may show the narrator has accepted that he will die in this war, and come to terms with his fate.

The narrator speaks of the entanglement of where hopes lie strewn, shows the death situation of
soldier. Their bodies are described as hopes; hopes for their lives in the future and the lives they
would have lead. Additionally it may be the hopes for the nation, and the prospect of winning the war
and it for it to be over quickly. The soldiers that have died and particularly young and the nation is
losing a generation.
Stanza 4 - Alex Burchell

And witnessed exhultation--

Faces that used to curse me, scowl for scowl,
Shine and lift up with passion of oblation,
Seraphic for an hour, though they were foul.

The first line states that the narrator has witnessed exultation, or an extended period of
epiphany. He goes on to describe the faces of his comrades, and how, although they once scowled at
him and cursed him; in the time of war and conflict he saw them lighting up with passion. This shows
the excitement that war can bring and the change that the conflict can seem to induce in people, no
matter how dull or bitter they may be beforehand; through the use of the phrase faces shine and
lift up with passion of oblation. It also shows how the prior conflict between them may have been
driven by both sides, and not just one; scowl for scowl suggests an exchange between the two
parties, where both of them acted towards the other. However, he also talks about how they can still
be the same person underneath, regardless of the change in appearance; Seraphic for an hour,
though they were foul.
However this stanza can also be interpreted on a deeper level, as a result of the use of
religious imagery. Four key words in this stanza have religious connotations, and the choice of these
words may be seen as a portrayal of something holy within the conflict; Witnessed, Exultation,
Seraphic and Oblation. The particularly strong example within these choices is the use of the word
Seraphic. Owen chose this word to use to describe his comrades' facial expressions, and considering
that his comrades as soldiers, this seems particularly ironic. Seraphs are child angels; and are seen as
being particularly strong symbols of peace and love; the fact that Owen is using a symbol of peace
and love to describe men of war and violence is puzzling, to say the least. However, he uses this
adjective specifically, not describing his comrades as seraphic, but only their facial expressions. Owen
may, at this point be describing the contrast between appearance and reality, and reminding us that
not everything is as it seems.
The use of the word witnessed is also worth noting. In religious terms, witnessing something
suggests something very rare or unusual, or something beyond this world; something supernatural,
and worthy of great happiness. We can see, to an extent, this happening to some people in modern
day society, with people such as Jehovahs witnesses. The word exultation talks about an extended
period of excitement, great joy, or Epiphany. The use of these two words together suggests the
extremity of his experience, and the significance of his unusual situation.
Stanza 5 - Mathew Clarke

I have made fellowships--

Untold of happy lovers in old song.
For love is not the binding of fair lips
With the soft silk of eyes that look and long.

Fellowships talks of the brotherhood and love found among the soldiers which is untold because
this is something that can only be experienced and those that werent there will never truly know.
The first person pronoun emphasises Owens personal experience.

Its also untold in old song because Owen may be challenging the conventions of love songs, here its
talking about comradely love between men in war which again is something only people there could
ever understand.

This is another stanza explaining how, out of the mere mechanised slaughter of war came some good,
such as the love found between troops prior to the turning point in the poem.

The second two lines in the poem talk of the love found outside of war, it describes the normal ideas
of love with romantic kisses between fair lips and longing eyes for those cute staring into each
others eye moments.

But before all that it says for love is not... and although he doesnt specifically go into the love
between brothers in war it does imply thats what hes referring to.

The sibilance in the last line soft silk of eyes is a very nice, soft sounding phrase possibly to show
the femininity of conventional love which stands in stark contrast to the masculine love found in war.

binding connotes marriage which is a central focus with this traditional love

the phrase happy lovers shows perhaps the crucial difference between the two loves, that ones
formed in matrimony and is joyous while the others formed in blood, guts and violence... not quite as
happy. It may also emphasise what sorts of love will not be able to be experienced by these young
men sacrificing their lives.

I believe he is rather talking about the superficial things associated with love like the kissing and the
displays of affection when really the important part of love, a part both types share is the raw emotion
felt between two people.
Stanza 6 - Ed Davies

By joy, whose ribbon slips,--

But wound with war's hard wire whose stakes are strong;
Bound with the bandage of the arm that drips;
Knit in the welding of the rifle-thong.

Perhaps the most significant part of this stanza, especially at face value, is the use of the word But.
As in all poetry, the word signifies a change in the tone in what the author is attempting to convey. In
this case, it is used by Owen as a contradiction of what has been stated in the previous 5 stanzas,
where war was portrayed in a positive light.

Following the word but, and its contradiction, Owen then goes on to express war in a negative light.
The use of words such as wire, bandage and drips, all with clear negative connotations

The use of the two words Bound and Knit, suggest the type of comradeship present in the war effort.
Owen is implying that once you are of age, and have made the decision to step into war, there is no
going back and you are in fact obliged to fight for your comrades and your country. The fact that the
wire is hard and the stakes are strong again shows how exit from the war was not an option, and
further places war in a negative light - interestingly something society realised after years of fighting
and killing.

As the words ribbon and knit suggest feminism, Owen could also be referring to comradeship of
individuals who arent on the battlefront, but instead working on the home front. The bandage
further implies feminism showing and expressing the effort that was occurring not just from the
soldiers, but wider society. We as readers know that through this time these efforts were important in
supporting war, and through Owens expression, we see that these efforts were always in the back of
the soldiers mind.

Through showing us as readers there are two sides to war, Owen also exemplifies the good and the
evil. The use of the contradiction, backed up by negative war imagery, shows the reader the reality of
what war was really like. Perhaps the positivity and happiness expressed in the first stanzas represent
the initial urge for a fast and victorious war. While it is unknown whether he is referring to an
individual soldier, or the war as a whole, it still has a profound affect on the reader.

Lastly, the rifle-thong, welded in the emphatic position at the closure of the stanza is important.
Perhaps Owen is attempting to express the fact that
Stanza 7 - Sam Guest

I have perceived much beauty

In the hoarse oaths that kept our courage straight;
Heard music in the silentness of duty;
Found peace where shell-storms spouted reddest spate.

The juxtaposition in this stanza is important because it illustrates the difference in views of the men
fighting the war and their family at home, and also the attitudes of these soldiers.

At the beginning of the war it was thought that it would all be over before christmas. This war was
seen as an opportunity to go overseas and share in an adventure. The real image of war was never
seen by those who stayed at home, and this is one of the poets purposes of this poem.

Heard music in the silentness is an oxymoron that presents the idea that beauty can be found where
we least expect it. It states that the soldiers that took part in the war were looking for an escape from
the horrible nature of war that is depicted in the last line of the stanza.

The peace mentioned in the fourth line could represent the figurative escape from battle through
music or poetry, or the literal escape of death. Because of the previous mention of music this could be
seen as soldiers looking to take their mind off battle. This also shows the view of the people who did
not go to war. They could be of the view that soldiers find peace in battle, and that they go away to
war in order to reflect on life. However the literal meaning for peace, the escape from battle in the
form of death, looks forward to the change in tone that takes place directly after this line, indicated by
the word nevertheless. It shows that war is so terrible that death is a welcome escape. It alludes to
the spiritual theme of the poem. Death is an escape from reality, in which one could be in pain, and
the gain of peace. This line implies that when you die you go to a peaceful place. This builds on the
motif of heaven and hell in the poem.
Stanza 8 - Charlie Hantler

Nevertheless, except you share

With them in hell the sorrowful dark of hell,
Whose world is but a trembling of a flare
And heaven but a highway for a shell,

This stanza signifies a turning point in the poem, in the respect of the narrators empathy towards the
reader. Despite the soldiers being away fighting a literal war, the families at home, and those who
have not gone to war, are fighting more of a mental war, as they are constantly concerned by the
well-being of their loved ones who are facing death. The helplessness of the soldiers is emphasised in
this stanza, describing the battlefields as the sorrowful dark of hell, the world as a trembling of a
flare and heaven but a highway for a shell.

The battlefields being described as they are simply serves to underline Owens hatred of war, seeing
as he was affected so gravely by it, and hence he feels that the soldiers are condemned to hell. The
world being described as a trembling flare reflects the helpless nature of all fighting both the wars at
home and in the trenches, as trembling connotes the fear of the soldiers, and a flare would
commonly be used as a call for help, describing the world as but a trembling flare, shows the
insignificance of this flare- it is far too late for help. This again reflects Owens critical stance on the
violent nature of war- there is no-one to save the soldiers, it is every man for themselves, while also
showing the helplessness he would have felt while his son was fighting, along with millions of other
families- they were but trembling flares, they were too far away to impact what was happening,
regardless of their will.

The stanza is finished with a simile which aptly sums up the situation, as Owen states that heaven is
but a highway for a shell. In this world, a trembling of a flare, the only real safety is death, with
heaven being idolized as a safehaven of peace and safety, yet to get there, they have to submit to the
one thing that is making this world hell- war. Again, Owen uses this simile to highlight his own
standing- no-one wins in war.

This stanza suits the theme of the poem adequately in accordance with Owens transition from
excitement to tragedy as the war advanced. This stanza shows the turning point, as he has
transitioned between the two numerous times throughout the poem, yet here, in the penultimate
stanza, he makes a final decision, much as millions did at the time of the war. Although many saw
their men return from the war safely and triumphant, many more faced the grim reality of death. War
has achieved little in Owens mind, as he faced a long period in hospital, and he feels a need to
explain his near loss of sanity, and forbode that which could also occur to others.
Stanza 9 - Kyu Kim

You shall not hear their mirth:

You shall not come to think them well content
By any jest of mine. These men are worth
Your tears: You are not worth their merriment.

This stanza condemns those who were not partaking in the war; it condemns them as falsely believing
that the soldiers are having the time of their life and living the dream. This is shown through the use
of the direct address: you. You and your are placed in the emphatic positions of three of the four
lines of the quatrain to embolden the condemnation. In fact, the lines are similar to the Ten
Commandments; you shall not.... is not unlike thou shall not.....

Those not partaking in the war are denied any communal mirth or content and Owen establishes a
separation between his audience and the entrenched soldiers; the world of war is not fun and games.
In addition, Owens jest is alluding to his poem. Relating to the lyrics title, Owen apologizes for his
false portrayal of the war being an adventure; his jest. The first lines of the first seven stanzas state
what Owen has learnt through his time in the trenches: Merry it was to laugh there... I, too, have
dropped off fear... And witnessed exultation... I have perceived much beauty. These lines connote to
the glorious joys of war that was a common paradigm of Owens time. As a result of the last two
stanzas, the glorious image of war that has been constructed through Owens lyric is destroyed. The
effect on the audience would be disappointment, as this shatters the common belief that war was
virtuous. Thus, Owen apologizes for his poetry.

The enjambment in the final two lines conveys an angry tone as the meter is disrupted. The caesura
in the final line of the poem is used to highlight the doom of those not in the war You are not worth
their merriment.
The imagery in the poem - Josh Quon and Tim Shiels

One of the main purposes of the poem Apologia Pro Poemate Meo is to show the difference between
the reality of war and the understanding the general population has of it. To do this, Wilfred Owen
uses imagery to emphasize the difference between the two. Whilst reading this poem, the reader is
able to imagine the emotions and hardships the soldiers go through and experience it for themselves -
to a certain extent. Therefore, the use of imagery is an exceptional way to show the reader the true
conditions of war, from Owen's perspective.

The first piece of imagery Owen employs is the idea of God. He does this in the first line: "I, too, saw
God through mud--". God is commonly associated to war as being the saviour and protector of the
soldiers. Owen shows that this notion is shared by the soldiers by using the word 'too'. Perhaps the
soldiers see God as a symbol of hope through the mud - which symbolizes the desolate conditions of
warfare. He expands the idea of mud in the next line, "The mud that cracked on cheeks when
wretches smiled." Ironically, it is not God that breaks the mud, but it is the smile of the wretches
(soldiers). Therefore, to a certain extent, Owen sarcastically decribes God as their saviours, showing
that he has denounced his faith because of the helplessness he has faced. This is reinforced in the 8th
stanza, where he talks about heaven and hell. He describes hell has sorrowful and dark, which are
emotions that are common to every human being. Constrastingly, he degrades heaven to just a
highway for a hell.
Owens overall purpose in this poem - Calvin Tan

Owens overall purpose in this poem is to at first convey his personal experience with war, by writing
in first person, Owen enables the readers to have a close relationship with his experience with war.
However, the poem is later directed to the audience, besides the shift from first person to a second
person style of writing,from Owens repetition of second person tenses you...you...your he attempts
to leave the readers with a choice, whether to join the army and go through what theyve been
through or not be able to share happiness with the armies. This is significant because it distance the
relationship between soldiers and normal citizens, this enables the soldiers to be at a higher level
compared to ordinary citizens it makes them the armies of god with Owens use of effective religion
symbolism. However, the readers are still trying to understand the
The audience and its relationship with the poem - Nick White

There is much to imply that the poem is a message towards its audience. This is first shown in the
Latin title, roughly meaning Apologies for my Poetry - Owen addresses this directly towards the
audience, whether he is sorry or not, the title shows that the poem is intended to evoke a reaction
from the reader, likely a negative one. Indeed, Apologia means a formal written defence of ones
beliefs, implying that Owen is using the poem to justify his beliefs towards the audience. Moreover the
use of Latin in the title, which would only be understood by reasonably well educated people, shows
that Owens audience with the poem is the middle classes.

By his use of I and them through the poem, Owen makes it clear that he is a soldier, and they
are his fellow soldiers. Thus when you is used in the final paragraph, it is clear that he is referring to
the people back home who are not fighting the war. His message for the people back home is that
these men are worth your tears - Owen peels his fellow soldiers have been through such horror that
the people back home should not think them well content, they should cry for them. In World War 1
the british public that Owen has addressed his poem to did not have an accurate idea of the reality of
the war their countrymen were fighting, due to propaganda, control of press, and not being on the
front lines themselves. Indeed when the war began thousands of young men signed up, expecting an
easy, if not fun, time fighting the war. Owen refers to this perception in his first paragraph, war
brought less glory to their eyes than blood, but goes on to show the of glory in war, to feel sickness
and remorse of murder, implying that war dehumanizes people, not at all glorious.

Owen challenges this idea of glorious and brave war further in stanzas 3, 5 and 7, referring to the
stereotypes of the good parts of war - I too have dropped off fear, referring to men gaining great
courage under fire, or fellowships - untold of happy lovers in old song referring to the band of
brothers formed between men. Owen admits that these stories have some truth to them, and that you
can perceive much beauty in parts of war. However in the second last paragraph he mentions his
true message, that nevertheless war is still hell, where heaven does not exist, it is nothing but a
highway for a shell.
The overall tone of the poem - Keith Woo

The tone varies throughout the poem. The use of childlike imagery with the descriptions of the war
set up a less sombre and serious tone while incorporating some innocence into the poem. gave their
laughs more glee than shakes a child and Merry it was to laugh there all contribute to building a
more innocent tone in the poem. Additionally, his use of children to build an innocent tone is well
suited as most people perceive children as pure and innocent. However there is a distinct shift in tone
of the poem as we move from the 5th stanza to the 6th stanza as evidenced by the authors use of
the word but to signify a contrast in tone. The lines wars hard wire whose stakes are strong,
bound with the bandage of the arm that drips, Knit in the wielding of the rifle-thong., silentness
of duty, shell-storms spouted reddest spate all contribute to giving the poem a more serious and
realistic tone as compared to the innocence in the previous stanzas. This tone is built up by the
authors emphasis on the phyical rather than the emotional or social context of war. This is evidenced
by his emphasis on the military equipment and the killing that ensues in wars. The usage of religious
imagery, with them in hell the sorrowful dark of hell, heaven but a highway for a shell in stanza 8
also help to create a more sombre or even fearful tone. The shift in tone of the poem can be likened
to mirror that of the publics perception of the war, particularly World War 1. This is significant
because the author had served in World War 1. The publics perception of war during the authors
period was similar to the tone created by the first 5 stanzas of the poem. The public had viewed the
war with childlike imagination and completely underestimated the casualties that it would lead.
However by the 6th stanza, the tone had changed from innocent to realistic as Owen places emphasis
on the reality of the hardships faced by soldiers during war. Similarly, after some time, the public
slowly realized the harsh the realities that war brought and that these men are worth your tears.