Futility

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



1 Move him into the sun--
2 Gently its touch awoke him once,
3 At home, whispering of fields unsown.
4 Always it awoke him, even in France,
5 Until this morning and this snow.
6 If anything might rouse him now
7 The kind old sun will know.

8 Think how it wakes the seeds--
9 Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
10 Are limbs so dear-achieved, are sides
11 Full-nerved,--still warm,--too hard to stir?
12 Was it for this the clay grew tall?
13 --O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
14 To break earth's sleep at all?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
127

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXBXB XXXXCXC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 508
Words 105
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 7

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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