On Seeing a Piece of Our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action Analysis

Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,
Great Gun towering towards Heaven, about to curse;
Sway steep against them, and for years rehearse
Huge imprecations like a blasting charm!
Reach at that Arrogance which needs thy harm,
And beat it down before its sins grow worse.
Spend our resentment, cannon, -- yea, disburse
Our gold in shapes of flame, our breaths in storm.

Yet, for men's sakes whom thy vast malison
Must wither innocent of enmity,
Be not withdrawn, dark arm, thy spoilure done,
Safe to the bosom of our prosperity.
But when thy spell be cast complete and whole,
May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul!

.: :.

“On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action” is a classic Italian sonnet, with the octave following the traditional abba abba rhyming pattern. The sestet follows with a cdcdcc rhyming pattern. Wilfred Owen is also known for his use of pararhyme, which is the usage of similar consonants with varying vowels. Examples of pararhyme in “On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action” are the repetition of the “rse” and “rm” consonants in the first stanza. The usage of pararhyme justifies Owen’s use of “harm” and “storm” as rhyming words in lines 5 and 8. In the sestet, the rhyming pattern changes, as does the subject matter. This turn, or volta, changes the poem’s mood from a sadistic plea for the power of the artillery, evident in the octave, to a request for the artillery to be far removed from Britain once its job has been complete, detailed in the sestet (beginning on line 9). While most sonnets written in English are in iambic pentameter, “On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action” attempts to conform to the ten syllables per line requirement, but falls short in several lines. For example, “Safe to the bosom of our prosperity,” in line 12 has 11 syllables unless the word “prosperity” is pronounced as “prosperty”. Line 2 also violates the iambic pentameter of the poem.
As a sonnet, Wilfred Owen’s poem takes two subjects, or moods, and juxtaposes them. These two subjects are the sadistic ecstasy that heavy artillery brings, and the sober request to have the guns far removed from life at home. In the octave, Owen commands the “long black arm” of an artillery piece to “Sway steep against [the Germans]” and refers to the imprecations of the gun as a “charm” in line 4. Owen’s tone, in the octave, is one of someone excited by the prospect of the destruction being caused by the gun. In the volta, a wave of sobriety sweeps over Owen, and thus his mood and tone change. The sestet begins with the phrase, “Yet, for men's sakes,” which indicates empathy, in some form. Summarized, the sestet of “On Seeing a Piece of our Artillery in Brought into Action,” is not a command, as in the octave, but a request for the gun, the enmity it carries with it, and its danger to be far removed from Owen’s home: England. However, there is never any regret expressed for the “Arrogance” (line 5) that the gun has attacked. In the last line, Owen asks, in reference to the gun, “May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul!” With these points in mind, the theme of the poem is that while Owen loves the power of his own artillery when used against the enemy, he would never want to see the guns at home.

| Posted on 2009-10-10 | by a guest