Futility
E37129
"Futility" is a poignant World War I poem by Wilfred Owen that reflects on the senseless loss of life and questions the purpose of creation amid the horrors of war.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
World War I poem
→
poem → |
| associatedWith |
Wilfred Owen’s war poems
→
anti-war literature → |
| author |
Wilfred Owen
→
|
| countryOfOrigin |
United Kingdom
→
|
| createdDuring |
World War I
→
|
| explores |
the gap between natural creation and human destruction
→
|
| firstLine |
Move him into the sun
→
|
| form |
short lyric
→
|
| genre |
lyric poem
→
war poetry → |
| hasAuthorNationality |
British
→
|
| hasNotableLine |
O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
→
Was it for this the clay grew tall? → |
| imagery |
battlefield imagery
→
nature imagery → sun imagery → |
| language |
English
→
|
| literaryDevice |
contrast between life and death
→
irony → personification of the sun → rhetorical questions → |
| literaryMovement |
British war poetry
→
war poets → |
| literaryPeriod |
World War I literature
→
|
| meter |
irregular iambic
→
|
| narrativeVoice |
first-person speaker
→
|
| originalLanguage |
English
→
|
| publicationStatus |
posthumous
→
|
| questionedConcept |
meaning of life
→
purpose of God → value of human existence in war → |
| rhymeScheme |
irregular
→
|
| setting |
Western Front
→
|
| structure |
two stanzas
→
|
| subjectMatter |
World War I trench warfare
→
death of a soldier → |
| theme |
grief
→
loss of life → purpose of creation → questioning of faith → senselessness of war → the power of nature → the sun as life-giver → |
| tone |
elegiac
→
poignant → questioning → |
Referenced by (1)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Wilfred Owen
→
|
notableWork |