He said that the soldiers have incurable sores on innocent tongues'. This is saying that the pain will never heal. The word innocent also has two meanings. Firstly, I think that they are the soldier's innocence refers to the fact that they are so young and inexperienced, secondly because they are the innocent ones in this war, they have done nothing wrong. .
Owen talks about a friend'. I believe this to be ironic as it is not really a friend. He is challenging this person, and asking them how can they such things to children enthusiasm, as they are hungry for some desperate glory'. I think he uses desperate because he sees this glory as hopeless, dependent, and even cynical. The last line shows the anger he feels, its like he is almost spitting out the words.
In this poem Owen uses very violent and shocking language. He talks about the propaganda behind the war. He also uses a lot of graphic words to get the reader to visualise the terror.
The second poem is Disabled'. This poem is about the hypocrisy of war. In the first verse the man is waiting for dark. I think this may be because he doesn't want anyone to see him in the state he's in. He can hear the voices of young boys. This would remind him of the good times he had had before he went to war. He describes the voices like a saddening hymn'. This is because hymns are like the sounds of church bells or it may be because they are sung at funerals. Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him', this line is powerful. I think it describes the boys going home to their mothers and going to sleep. These boys are going to sleep feeling safe and secure. Like he used to feel.
In the second verse he is thinking about how life used to be before he threw away his knees'. This line signifies regret, regret of going to war and of losing the old times'. Owen uses the words old times', but these times were only 12 months ago. I think he uses old times because it feels like these times were along time ago, because he now feels so old and has lost his youth.
