Futility by Wilfred Owen

Title and its appropriateness

The title ‘’Futility’ ultimately comes from a latin word meaning easily broken or worthless. This title, then is especially appropriate to this poem. The body of the young soldier, as the poem describes, has indeed been easily broken by war, but that is not necessarily to daily that his life was worthless. Indeed the very existence of the poem implies just the opposite.

Setting

The poem is set in France during the First World War. World War I (1914-1918) was fought on most of the continent of Europe between Germany and the allies. He wrote this poem when he was enlisted in the war.

Literal meaning and Theme

The theme of the poem is futility of the war. Then theme is developed by consideration of an elementary natural process as futile. The speaker questions the purpose of the hard labour of the sun which roused the sleeping earth. The efforts of the sun rays are considered to be futile because they cannot animate the limbs of a soldier who died in a battle.

Gently – softly

Whispering – to speak very quietly into somebody’d ears

Rouse- to make somebody wake up

Limbs – a leg or an arm of a person

Fatuous – silly and pointless

Structure  
The two stanza structure FUTILITY reflects the poems change in tone,from hope and confidence to despair . The poem is written in a mixture of iambic and trochaic tetrameter. The first and last lines of each stanza are trimeters.

Relate with the present time

The poem is about the war. It relates to the present time that how the soldiers are shooted and how they are left alone in the heat and scorch of the sun. The sun only takes care of the soldiers by gently touching him.