Poem Appreciation: The parable of the old man and the young

Hi guys, I guess you guys have read the poem "the parable of the old man and the young"

In case you didn't:


The parable of the old man and the young
Wilfred Owen 1893-1918

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where is the lamb, for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, and slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

And I have wrote a poem appreciation, anyone can give me some comment? English is not my first language, so please tell me if you grammtical mistakes or whatever! Thanks! Its my school assignment~

Poetry is a form of art in which language is often used by poet to express their own feelings. Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to expand the literal meaning of the words or to invoke emotional or sensual responses. The common poetic devices used in poetry are assonance, alliteration and rhythm. They are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poetry often use of different kinds of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction to leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations for readers. Besides, metaphor and simile are often can be seen in poetry.

In the poetry written by Wilfred Owen, let us firstly look at the title of the poem. The title was the parable of the old man and the young. Writer use the word "parable" because he wants to tell a story and wish to teaches or explains an idea to readers of the poem. And most of us know that, the story come from a well known biblical story. In this poem, there are total 16 lines and there are not many rhymes we can see except near the end of the poem.

According to the bible Genesis 22, God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his son to him. The next morning, Abraham brought his son, with two servants and loaded his donkey headed towards Moriah without hesitation. When they came to the place which God had told him about Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. When he picked up his knife and decides to slew his son, God had clarified his faith and ordered him to stop and sacrifice ram instead of his son. Abraham obeyed. In contrast, even though the biblical story was similar to the one to the parable of the old man and the young written by Wilfred Owen, the story ending was so unexpected that Abram slew his son even the angel calls from the heaven told him to sacrifice the ram of pride instead.

Looking to the structure of the poetry, we can see that the poem The Parable of the Old Man and the Young is written loosely in iambic pentameter. It does not use traditional rhyme. It is also obvious to notice that there is not much rhymes but lines are bound together mainly by assonance, consonance, and alliteration. The rhyme scheme was ABCCDEFGH HIHJKHH. As we can see the common rhymes was H, the son, heaven, one which some of them are the keywords of the story. The other rhymes are together and Father. Besides, we can also see that the last rhyming has the greatest effect, highlighting the difference between the biblical the story and the main message. Assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds within a short passage of verse, is used in certain lines such as the second line "And took the fire with him, and a knife." the word "fire" and "knife". In addition, on the fourth line, the words "Isaac" and "said", the seventh line, the words "Abram" and "straps", eleventh line, the words "hand" and "lad" and the thirteenth line, the words "Behold" and "horns". Consonance, the repetition of consonant sounds in a short sequence of words, is used in some of the lines too such as the seventh line "Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps" the word "belts" and "straps", both having the "s" sound at the end of the words. Other examples are "parapets" and "trenches", "hand" and "lad" and "caught" and "thicket" on the second half of the poem. Alliteration, successive words begin with the same consonant sound or letter, are also used in this poem. At the first line, the words "wood" and "went", third line with words "them" and "together", fourth line with words "spake" and "said", second half of the poems with words "him" and "heaven", "slew" and "son" and "one by one". Use of repetition of word is often use to emphasis the importance of the word such as words "son" and "ram", other repetition words are "and", "one" and "him". The "Lay" was not the first word but capital letter was used because it tries to emphasis the strong command from the angels. Certain archaic language is used to conveys the picture of the poem in an archaic style such as words "lo" which means "look" , "spake" means "speak "and "thy" means "your".

This poem was written during First World War, so it is quite obvious to see that author is trying to use the poem as a metaphor to protest against the war. Owen use father to symbolize the dictators or government and the son as the soldiers. The lad can also symbolize the land in Europe. In the both story, it revealed the faith of both Abraham and Abram. Besides, it also implied the authoritarian and hierarchal mentality of the dictators in Europe. In the story, Abraham was obedient to god, and so as his son to his father. His son, Issac was obedient to Abraham and his thoughts, desires would not be considered. Owen was trying to imply that the soldiers in Europe in First World War were the same as they obey orders given by dictators or governent and it is their duty to follow no matter the descision is right or wrong. They are not allowed to question, theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die (Alfred Lord Tennyonson, 1854, The Charge of the Light Brigade). The soldier duty at that time is to follow orders. Obedience is merely the primary virtue and value in military force. For those who do not follow orders will be punished. Owen realized how the soldiers suffer in wars and how harsh they were treated. In the poem, when Abram was told to stop and sacrifice the lad instead, he refused and killed his son which implied the actual situation during First World War in Europe. Dictators often choose to sacrifric they soldiers rather than the land. Soldiers at those times have no choice to choose other than going to wars and they are forced to put in battles. However, dictators never realized how innocent the citizens and soldiers are. They never learn the lessons and know what is the most important for their nation. Owen ended the poem with his own view, expostualting the importance of citizens and soldiers are the assets of the nation but not the land. Owen use seed to imply the life of citizen. If there is no citizen, there will be no further growing in nation in any sort of affairs. Besides the different kind of poetic devices, they are simlies throughout this poem to make it more interesting to read. The word "fire" and "burnt" at the second and the sixth line, the word "lamb" and "ram" on the sixth and fourteenth line and more.

To conclude, the poem was well written by using lots of poetic devices and techniques. Other than interpreting the meaning behind the poem, it is also enjoyable to read the poem and able to empathize the actual feelings that the poet want us to experience. The reason of writing this poem is conspicuous. Owen hopes to use this poem to spread the message of how the soldiers and citizen suffers and cease wars. The life of citizen should always put in the highest priority but not the land. Nothing is more important than life. War only gives pain. Nowadays, even though wars are not likely to happen to many countries but in some countries especially in Middle East and Africa, wars often happens. The citizen is innocent. The poem can be even be used to expostulate those tyrant dictators, in order to grab power and force, they are willing sacrificing the life of citizen or soldiers. So in my own interpretation, the poet is looking forward to one thing that every citizen wants, peace.