Hello there.

Mr. Barnsley here.

Thank you for joining me as we dive into one of the poems from the Eduqas 2025 anthology.

And in today's lesson, we are gonna be looking at the poetry of Wilfred Owen and focusing on his poem, "Disabled." This is, of course, in your anthology, so you are gonna want to make sure you have your anthology to hand.

If you don't, do not worry.

There is a copy of this in the additional materials.

But it's gonna be really important you can see a version of this poem, so please make sure you have one in front of you.

Okay, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

So let's look at today's outcome.

So by the end of today's lesson, we will have read Wilfred Owen's poem, "Disabled," and we will understand how Owen presents ideas of war and isolation in his poem.

So four keywords that we are gonna be looking out for, we'll probably be using in our own discussions.

The first is enlist.

And this means to enrol or to be enrolled in the armed services, so joining the Army.

Aftermath is the period that follows an unpleasant event or accident.

And when we're looking at the aftermath, we're often looking at the effects that that unpleasant event or accident might have caused.

The feeling of isolation is a state of feeling alone and without friends, without help, without support.

And futility or if something is described as being futile, it's the fact of having no effect, it has achieved nothing.

It's pointless, it's useless.

So if something is futile, it's pointless, it is useless.

So let's keep an eye out for all of these words.

See if we can use them in our own discussion and see if they help us understand today's poem.

So we are gonna be reading and understanding the ideas of war and isolation in Owen's poem.

Before we read the poem, we're gonna start thinking about some context of World War I and Wilfred Owen the poet, and then we will read and respond to his poem, "Disabled." So let's start by thinking about some context.

So Wilfred Owen is considered to be one of the leading poets of World War I.

His poetry is kind of celebrated as being some of the most powerful that came from that era.

So let's make sure we have some context of World War I.

You might know some of this from history.

So World War I occurred between 1914 and 1918, and it was fought between the Central Powers, and this is mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey against the Allied Powers, and that was mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and right at the end, 1917, the United States.

Now it is remembered or characterised by trench warfare, a lot of kind of battle on land, and this resulted in lots of horrific casualties.

In total, its estimated that around 8.

5 million people were killed during this war, and around 21 million, so these are huge numbers of people, were wounded.

How does Wilford Owen apply to this? You know, how does he link to the World War I? Well, he returned from France to enlist, to enrol in the Army in 1915, so just after the start of the war.

In 1917, so after the war had been going on for a number of years, he was diagnosed with shell shock.

So basically this means he was hit by an explosion, and he was evacuated to Scotland to recover.

Okay, this caused a lot of kind of trauma for him, physical, mental trauma, shell shock.

Kind of lots of soldiers suffered from this.

Wilford Owen suffered from this.

And it was during this recovery that he wrote a lot about his experience at war.

So he was writing a lot about war while he was kind of recovering from injury.

He then returned to France in 1918.

Okay, so he returned after he'd recovered, he returned back to fight.

He was awarded the military cross for bravery.

Now, incredibly sadly, he was killed on the 4th of November, 1918.

This was just seven days before the end of the war.

Okay, which of the following statements then are true? Is it A, that Owen was forced to join the Army? Is it B that Owen died during the war? Or is it C that Owen died after the war? A, B, or C? Pause the video.

Have a think, and press play when you've got the right answer.

Yes, that is B.

Okay.

He died during war.

He wasn't forced to join the Army.

He listed himself.

And as we saw, very, very sadly, he died just mere days before the end of the war.

And as I said before, Owen's poetry is considered to be some of the very best poetry that was written about World War I.

Here are just some of the lines from a couple of his most well-known poems. So this is from "Dulce et Decorum Est".

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge." From "Anthem for Doomed Youth," "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" From "Exposure," "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us." Okay, let's think about those three quotes from three different poems about World War I.

What do you understand about how Owen portrays the war from these lines? How's he trying to make us feel about this war? Why don't you pause the video and have a think.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can just think through some of these ideas independently.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

There were some quite heavy lines there.

Some really quite vivid, gruesome, brutal imagery.

I wonder if you said something similar to what Lucas and Izzy, two of our Oak pupils, have said.

Lucas said, "I think he's showing how horrific, how brutal the war was on those who were fighting in the trenches." And Izzy says she thinks he's actually criticising those in power who send people to die.

She looks at that line from "Anthem for Doomed Youth" and that word "cattle." It sounds like he's saying people weren't being treated, the soldiers weren't being treated like human beings, almost like cows that were being sent to the slaughter.

Do you agree with Lucas and Izzy? Were they having similar conversations as to what you were saying? Did you say anything else? Why don't you pause the video, take a moment to reflect on the discussions you were having, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, true or false then.

Wilfred Owen presented the war in a positive light in his poetry.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

That is, of course, false.

Why is that false? Well, we know that actually Owen's poetry portrayed the horror and the brutality of war.

That isn't to say that everyone who wrote poetry about war at the time was writing about the kind of the honest brutality of it.

There were quite a few poems that were trying to, you know, show how noble it was to fight for your country.

They wanted to kind of almost work as propaganda to promote and encourage young men to go and fight for their country.

So Owen presenting war in this really realistic way, the horror, the brutality, wasn't, you know, was relatively unique or, you know, it wasn't that all poetry was really honest about what war was actually like at the time.

Okay, so before we read "Disabled", I want you to make a few predictions.

So I want you to see if you can predict what you think Owen's poem, "Disabled," will be about.

I want you to make a mind map to kind of collect some of your ideas.

Things I want you to think about.

That word, "disabled." Okay, what does it mean? But also think about the prefix, dis, okay.

That means apart, not or removed.

Okay? I also want you to bear in mind what you know about Owen's experience of the war and think about what you know about how Owen has portrayed war in his other poetry.

All right, pause the video, make some predictions, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

How did you find that? Let's compare our mind map then to Alex, one of our Oak pupils.

And you can think about did Alex have similar ideas? Did he have different ideas? And, of course, if you like any of Alex's ideas and you want to add them to your mind map, you can do so.

So Alex talks about this idea kind of most obviously this is probably gonna be about soldiers and their injuries, okay? Those injuries that can disable, that might have disabled them.

He also said this is probably gonna be about the aftermath, kind of the period after the war and their experiences kind of after the war.

It's not just about what happens kind of during the war, but the result of the war and the consequences it has for their life afterwards.

He focused on this prefix "dis" and he said it means to remove, so it could be about the soldiers losing something about themselves.

Or it could be about, you know, if we talk about dis meaning apart, we could talk about how it might show that the soldiers feel isolated.

These are all really nice predictions.

How do they compare to yours? Why don't you pause the video, and if you want to add anything else to your mind map, now's the time to do so.

Okay, welcome back.

Right, it's time for us to read and start to make those our initial responses to Owen's poem, "Disabled." So we're gonna read through this poem together.

I did say at the beginning you were gonna need a copy of the anthology.

So hopefully you've got that.

But if you haven't, don't worry.

There is a copy of the poem in the additional materials.

Now I am going to turn my camera off.

I'm gonna read this to you.

If you would prefer to read it to yourself, then you can just pause the video, read it, and then you can just fast forward until after I've read it.

Otherwise, if you'd like to follow along with me, I'm gonna turn the camera off because I want you to be focusing on the words on the page.

So I want you to be looking at the poem on the page as I am reading to you.

What we're gonna be thinking is, kind of when we've read it together, what was your initial reaction to the poem and how does it make you feel? So as we're reading it together, why don't you think about how is it making you feel? All right, I'm about to turn my camera off now.

All eyes on the page then and let's read through this poem together.

"Disabled," by Wilfred Owen.

"He sat in a wheeled chair waiting for dark, and shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, legless, sewn short at elbow.

Through the park, voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn.

Voices of play and pleasure after day till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time, town used to swing so gay when glow lamps bubbled in the light blue trees and girls glanced lovelier as their air grew dim in the old times before he threw away his knees.

Now he will never feel again how slim girls' waists are or how warm their subtle hands.

All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face for it was younger than his youth last year.

Now he is old.

His back will never brace.

He's lost his colour, fiery far from here.

Poured it down shell holes till the veins ran dry.

And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race and leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

One time he'd liked a blood smear down his leg, after the matches carried shoulder high.

It was after football when he'd drunk a peg, he thought he'd better join.

He wonders why.

Someone had said he'd looked a god in kilts.

That's why.

And maybe too, to please his Meg.

Ay, that was it, to please the giddy jilts he'd asked to join.

He didn't have to beg.

Smiling, they wrote his lie, age, 19 years.

Germans, he'd scarcely thought of.

All of their guilt and Austria's did not move him.

And no fears of fear came yet.

He thought to jewelled hilts, for daggers in plaid socks, of smart salutes and cares of arms and leave and pay arrears, a spirit to corp and hints for young recruits.

And soon he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer a goal.

Only a solemn man who brought him fruits thanked him and then inquired about his soul.

Now he will spend a few sick years in institutes and do what things the rules consider wise and take whatever pity they may dull.

Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes passed from him to the strong men who were whole.

How cold and late it is.

Why don't they come and put him to bed? Why don't they come?" Okay, let's think about our initial reactions to that poem.

How did it make you feel? All right, if you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

You can share some ideas.

Otherwise you can just think through this independently.

All right, pause the video, have a think.

Press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

Really quite difficult poem that.

I'm sure it brought up some quite difficult emotions and feelings for you.

I want us to consider some of the following lines.

"Suit of grey, legless, sewn short at the elbow," and "leap of purple spurted from his thigh." What do you think has happened to the soldier in this poem? Pause the video.

Have a think with a partner or by yourself.

Press play when you've got some ideas.

I wonder if you said some things that you can see on the screen.

So did you notice that he'd clearly been injured during the fighting? And I think the description of the suit implies that he's actually lost his legs, both of his legs, and he's also lost part of his arm.

His suit has been sewn so it kind of all goes up to the elbow.

So which of the following then is an accurate summary of Owen's "Disabled?" Is it A, the poem is about a gas attack on the front line? Is it B, the poem is about an injured soldier? Or is it C, the poem is about a soldier wanting to return home from the war? A, B, or C? Make your choice.

Pause the video, make your choice, and press play when you've got an answer.

Well done if you said B.

This is about an injured soldier.

So why don't we consider a few more quotations and think about what do they suggest about how the soldier feels.

You can just make some notes or you can talk through this if you've got a partner.

The quotes I want you to look at are "legless," "all of them touch him like some queer disease," "the women's eyes pass from him to the strong men that were whole." Right, pause the video.

Have a think about these quotations and what they suggest about how the soldier feels.

All right, press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

This first quotation, "legless" then.

He might have been talking about less means he's lacking.

So on the surface this means we know that he's lost his legs in battle.

But actually I think this implies a much greater sense of loss.

He doesn't feel whole anymore, both physically, but possibly even more than that, like emotionally.

And we see this, that he sees how the women treat him since he's returned home.

He's treated like he's some kind of queer disease, strange disease.

That's what this means.

And it suggests that he's really isolated from the others.

They look at him as if he's different, and this is really harmful for him.

And we see here that he compares himself to these men who've either returned home from war without injury, or certainly without injury like his, or maybe some of these young men who never had to go and fight.

He feels less in comparison to him.

The women kind of pass over him and they look at these men who are still whole, and that means he doesn't feel complete.

He feels less than some of these other men.

All of these really do show not only the impact of his kind of the physical kind of consequences of war for him, but how the emotional responses as well.

So true or false then.

Arguably Owen portrays the soldier as feeling isolated.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yeah, well done if you said that was true.

Why? Well, we have this comparison to a disease.

That's just one of the quotes that you could have used to justify your argument.

It implies that the soldier feels as if others are trying to avoid him.

So throughout the poem, the injured soldier is just called he.

What do you think the significance of this might be? Let's really focus on the fact that he's never referred to by name.

Why do you think Owen has made this choice? Pause the video, have a think.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise you can just think through this independently.

All right, over to you.

Welcome back.

Some things that you might have said then.

This lack of name enhances this idea of a loss of identity.

You know, yes, we know that this is about the loss of physical limbs and how the war has physically disabled him, but I think there's a lot more going on here about how the soldier has lost his identity, and the fact that he doesn't have a name only enhances this further.

But also, I wonder if you've said this, I think this is a great point, it's very generic to just describe him using this pronoun he.

So I think we could say this is not an experience of just this one soldier.

Of course, it does represent this one soldier's experience, but actually this is an experience that happened to many soldiers.

Many, many soldiers kind of returned home from war, both physically and kind of emotionally changed in ways that they would never be able to recover from.

So this soldier represents much more than just one individual experience.

So true or false then.

Owen arguably implies that the soldier has experienced a loss of identity.

Is that true or false? Have a think, pause the video while you're doing so, and press play when you've got an idea.

Well done if you said that was true.

Why is that true? Well, by referring to him as he rather than by name, Owen is suggesting that the soldier doesn't feel a strong sense of individual identity anymore.

He doesn't recognise the person that he was before war.

Owen also writes that the soldier scarcely thought of war itself while enlisting.

Scarcely means like almost not at all.

He didn't really think about it.

What do you think the significance of that vocabulary choice might be? Again, pause the video.

Have a think.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss this with them.

Otherwise, just think through this independently.

What is the significance of this word, "scarcely?" What might it mean? All right, pause the video.

Have a think.

Press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

I wonder if during your discussions or your thoughts, you had something similar to our Oak pupil, Aisha, who said, "I think it suggests that the soldier wasn't aware of what the war would actually be like when they enlisted.

They weren't aware of the horrific nature of war and what they would experience as a soldier." Do you agree with Aisha? Did you have similar thoughts to her? Why? Why not? Pause video, have a think, have a reflect, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

Which of the following statements then is true? Notice all of these are tentative because obviously we cannot say for sure what Owen was implying, what his message was.

So we're gonna be tentative here.

We're gonna suggest this may be the case, but we're not going to say this is definite.

So is it A, arguably Owen implies that soldiers were fully aware of the realities of war when enlisting? Is it B, Owen could imply that soldiers were not fully aware of the realities of war when enlisting? Or is it C, potentially Owen suggests that soldiers were forced into signing up for the war? A, B, or C? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yes, well done if you said B, Owen could be implying that soldiers were not fully aware of the realities of war when enlisting.

Of course, there were times when soldiers were forced to enlist.

It's not to say that that didn't happen.

But we know that Owen himself wasn't forced to enlist.

He chose to enlist.

But I think we could start to pull out that actually one of the reasons why Owen wrote so honestly about the brutalities of war across all of his poems was perhaps that he felt that him and other soldiers hadn't been told the truth about what war was like when they were enlisted and therefore they were enlisting for something that they actually hadn't ever pictured the realities of.

There's another quote here, another really kind of vivid quote here that Owen writes that the soldier "poured" himself away "down shell holes till the veins ran dry." Again, let's think about what this might suggest about the soldiers and war in general.

Pause the video.

Have a think about this in pairs or by yourself, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

Again, let's have a think.

Do you agree with what Andeep said, one of our Oak pupils? He said he thinks it suggests that the soldiers have given their life for the war, but the image of them pouring themselves down shell holes actually links this idea of futility.

Remember that was kind of the pointlessness, that's one of our key words, the pointlessness of war.

And here we're seeing that their sacrifices aren't actually achieving anything.

They're not.

You know, this phrase doesn't appear to suggest that these soldiers are sacrificing their bodies to win a war.

They're actually just kind of pouring them away, pouring them down shell holes.

It links this idea of futility.

What do you think? Do you agree with Andeep's ideas? Why or why not? Pause the video.

Take a moment to reflect.

If you like any of these ideas, make a note of them as well.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, true or false then.

Owen suggests that the soldiers sacrifices during the war were worthwhile.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got an idea.

Yeah, you should have said false there.

Why? Actually these images, particularly the blood running down into the shell holes, really creates this sense of futility around the soldier's sacrifice.

And that's one common theme you will see running throughout a lot of Owen's poetry all about World War I is that actually war was very futile and a lot of these men gave their lives, gave their bodies, and it didn't make a significant difference.

Certainly that was Owen's perspective.

Okay, onto our final task then in today's lesson.

I would like you to answer the following questions.

One, how does Owen depict the injured soldier in "Disabled?" Okay, how does he present him? But also, let's go further.

How does Owen depict the war in "Disabled?" I want you to make sure you use evidence from the text to support your answers.

All right, pause the video, give this a go.

We've had loads of great discussions today.

You should have plenty of ideas.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Good luck.

How did you find that? I hope you felt really confident in your writing because we've had some really fantastic discussions.

You've got many great ideas, so I hope you felt confident when you were putting that down on paper.

Before we finish today's lesson, I want us to take a moment to reflect on the work that we've just done.

We're gonna do this by comparing our own work to our Oak pupils.

So I'm gonna share a couple of model answers.

Of course, with any model answer, they are not the only right answer, but you can see how yours compares, and if there's anything you like here, you can take a moment and make notes and improve your work, or use them to add and improve to your work.

So for question one, how does Owen depict the injured soldier in "Disabled," Sofia wrote, "I think Owen depicts the soldier as feeling isolated.

By comparing him to a disease, Owen implies that the soldier feels as if others are avoiding him and treating him something to be feared.

Furthermore, Owen also arguably shows the soldier's loss of identity.

By referring to him as 'legless' and to other men as 'whole', Owen implies the soldier feels that he's lost something.

By only referring him to as 'he', Owen could be suggesting that the soldier has lost the sense of who he is as an individual." Pause the video, compare your response, and make a few notes.

If you like any of Sofia's ideas, now's the time to note them down.

Okay, question two then.

How does Owen depict the war in "Disabled?" "By saying the soldier 'scarcely thought of' the war before enlisting, I think Owen is demonstrating how men did not know what they were signing up for.

Moreover, I think Owen could be hinting at the futility of war and the soldiers' sacrifice by saying that they 'poured' themselves away down 'shell holes.

' This suggests that their sacrifices didn't achieve anything meaningful.

They were just adding blood to the ground." Pause the video, compare, and take any of Sofia's ideas if you like them.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, that's it.

We have reached the end of today's lesson.

Some really great discussion going on, and I hope you feel that you've now got a really good understanding of Owen's poem, "Disabled." Quick summary then of what we've learned today so you can feel really confident before you move on to your next lesson.

We've learned that Wilfred Owen is widely considered to be one of the most important World War I poets.

We've learned that arguably Owen's poetry reveals the horror and the futility of war.

"Disabled" focuses on an injured soldier in the aftermath of World War I, and we might read "Disabled" as demonstrating how the young men who enlisted did not know what they were signing up for.

We might also see "Disabled" as exploring the loss of identity and the isolation that a lot of soldiers faced in the aftermath of war.

Really great work from you today.

I hope you're really proud of yourself.

I've really enjoyed leading you through today's learning, and I hope to see you in one of our lessons again in the future.

See you all soon.

Bye-bye for now.