I believe Wilfred Owen went from heaven to his own purgatory in minutes. From a lady's man and athlete, to a sad statistic of the blood shed in war. He wrote the poem "Owens Disabled- to show how quickly a man in those circumstances of isolation and disfigurement could go from being in his prime to the worse stages of his life.
Owen tells you all you need to know to realize he was in his prime. For example in "Disabled- he states " After the match, carried shoulder high- and "some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheered Goal- telling me that he was a good athlete (23,37). He must have been good looking as well because he said, "girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim-(9). When he signed up for the military he was nineteen telling me he was a healthy young man. All of these statements he says about himself before he went of to war about his age, athletics, and good looks suggest he was defiantly in his prime. Not only was he in his prime he seemed to be better of than your average Joe. .
Than a time of war came and Owens stated, "he thought he'd better join- He wonders why-(24). After all "someone had said he'd look a god in kilts,"" telling me he did it for the glamour (25). In a book called Wounds Of War people see soldiers in war as heroes they don't see or thing about the psychology effects of killing some one else or seeing your best friend killed beside you (Nendin and Haas 6). I think that is how Owens thought war would be; you go get the enemy, and your hero. I do not think he ever imagined getting wounded or possibly dieing. I picture it like today's army commercials: you could be an army of one and do all these great things; it would be like one big adventure. I'm sure he did not see it the same as we see it today, however either way you look at it, it is still can be very misleading. . The military is not going to say you could die, possibly loose a leg or two, and more than likely you will see someone you know get killed, do you want to join? They glamorize it and that's what Owen meant when he said "Smiling they wrote his lie-(29).
