The Show Analysis

This poem is primarily the expression of the devastation left as a result of the war. The first stanza paints a desolate descri ption of a dismal battlefield landscape which then develops into the magnification of dehumanization between lines 6 and 23. Owen ends the poem in the last stanza highlighting his personal feelings of terror and the death that permeates the battlefield of Scarborough. The poet uses metaphorical language which creates a graphic sensory atmosphere and stilted structure that highlights the tone of horror and detachment.

The first stanza introduces the scene portraying the hellish nature of the show referring ironically to a battle as opposed to the relaxing nature of leisure, which leaves the narrator feeling isolated. The colloquial title may also refer to the fake face of bravery shown by the soldiers as they were expected as to be a beacon of hope despite the majority walking to their own funeral. This is shown through his proximity above hell and the ambiguity of the narrator s position within the scene as he looked down upon a Hadean landscape of Death . The use of simplistic language expresses the lack of hyperbole, therefore increasing the shock he aimed to inflict as this suggests he has bypassed hell and has gone on to experience worse. The capitalisation of the primary letter in Death places emphasis on the word and reminds the reader of the impact of war. Owen continues the express the misery through the use of personification in the third line sad land, weak with sweats of dearth shows the weariness which does not benefit land nor inhabitants, essentially self-destructing itself. The spondee within sad land, weak highlights the narrator s feeling of disjointedness as he does not feel connected to humanity anymore. The half-rhyme of dearth refers to famine, whether that be metaphorically of hope or literally of food as the blockages in the First World War led to starvation and ultimately death. This is further instated as he portrays the Earth to be inhabitable through the line gray, cratered like the moon . The colour imagery magnifies the lack of joy as a film of despair covers the eyes of the soldiers. It may also refer to the dust on their faces as they carry on fighting. The holes within upon the surface of the Earth, mirror that of the soldier s soul as the war has broken their humanity into pieces. The use of the plosive and hard c in pocks and scabs leaves a picture of illness and barrenness using both auditory and visual imagery. Perhaps, Owen is alluding, as some of the more outspoken Romantics did, to the idea of humanity as a plague, however it is more likely that he is viewing war itself as a haggard plague , destroying everything that it touches.

The tone then develops as Owen expresses death and horror through the use of dehumanization and zoomorphism in stanzas 2 to 8. The narrator uses animalistic imagery as he likens the soldiers to thin caterpillars, slowly uncoiled as they have retreated from humanity. Their diminished size shows their irrelevance and insignificance as they follow the will of their superiors. Although they know war is ineffective, the soldiers are slowly ingrained and lulled into thinking they with be safe within war through the means of Jingoistic propaganda. The futility of war is further highlighted as their entrapment is shown through the triad of verbs in line 9 as they writhed and shrivelled, killed. The soldier s attempt at fighting against the nature of the war are portrayed to be fruitless. The last word is punctuated with a full stop mirroring the lack of movement and the finality of when a life is taken. This dehumanization is continued as their journey is negatively connoted with slimy indicating either their motivations are unwholesome as their fight for survival compromises their enemy s life. Further allusions to animals are shown through the use of the verb trailed and scraped leaving the image of a wounded soldier dragging himself despite being so broken and beaten. Like in Dulce et Decorum est, Owen mocks the idealistic statement instead depicting the harsh realities of war. This derisive outlook is continued as the olfactory image of those foul openings symbolizing the words of the politicians that led the world astray into war. The openings are also referring to the pits of hell. This hellish imagery is also prevalent in the 7^th stanza wherein the German soldiers are described to be abundant spawns as they become war tools, soulless. The active verb ramped indicated the mindless nature of war as the Devil s children consume and demolish hope frantically disregarding the pain of becoming a machine. Line 21 and 22 uses triads to emanate the wounds left physically on the soldiers the plosive bitten backs portraying his sorrow and bitterness. This is further shown through the use of I as the first person narrative connects him to humanity once more.

The poem concludes in the final stanza, as Owen comes to terms with the realization of the bleak outcome of war and the everlasting impression it will have on him personally and the society surrounding him. The flow of the poem is disturbed as he comes to this realization as line 26 has iambs, spondees and trochees within the sentence causing the structure to be stilted as the truth settles within his mind. This enjambment, with the use of caesura imparts a tone of desperation as it adds to the disruptive image of the voice seeing his own body on the battlefield. Through the use of zoomorphism, the jarring image of hope is shattered as the poem ends abruptly as God, denoted as He is left to watch as he died leaving his fellow soldiers to fight on.

The Show is adorned with the words of Yeats, a poet whom disliked and disapproved of Owen s writing denoting it to be blood, dirt and sucked sugar stick , as it highlights the inevitable nature of destruction, lacking the beauty poems are commonly associated with.