Glory Days Of A Young Man Before Enlisting As A Soldier In The Great War

‘Disabled’ depicts the glory days of a young man before enlisting as a soldier in ‘The Great War’. The poem shows how his life drastically changes for the worst after returning from war as a paraplegic. Formerly accustomed to being raised on a pedestal, he is shunned and abandoned by those who had come to admire him. The veteran’s blissful days are over as he is now crippled, and dependent on the nurses to care for him.

In the first stanza, the poem is set in the present where a man confined to a wheelchair is seen contemplating his past. ‘He’ is a first person pronoun used to highlight the ambiguity of the speaker’s identity. This shows that after the war, many men become disabled and also suffer from isolation. He is reminiscent about the

The veteran’s sporty background is seen here as he was carried ‘shoulder-high’ after winning a match. The win was celebrated with a ‘peg’ where he becomes influenced with the propaganda relating to the war. He is complimented and persuaded to join the army, as he would look like a ‘god in kilts’. Kilts represents the Scottish regiment which implies the regiment which the soldier joins. He becomes infatuated with praise and seeks to ‘please Meg’ and the ‘giddy jilts’ who are the women he finds attractive. This shows the reader that the soldier signed up in a drunk state, barely considering the challenges that lie ahead. The ease in which he was able to enlist is emphasised by the fact that he merely ‘asked to join and ‘didn’t have to beg’. The full stop between these two statements show the lack of questioning which occurred during the sign up, and how quickly he could do so even though he was under-aged. They were ‘smiling’ when they ‘wrote his lie’, the ‘lie’ being the fact that was not nineteen and therefore ineligible to enlist in the army. Nevertheless, they were desperate to fight the ‘Germans’ and ‘Austria’s’ troops and accepted a befuddled teenager. The soldier could not comprehend the risk that he was getting into as he was mesmerised by the ‘jewelled hilts’,’daggers in plaid socks’ and ‘smart salutes’ that accompanied the title of being a soldier. This suggests to the reader that the

For all the traumatic events endured, he is now required to ‘spend a few sick years’ in ‘institutes’. The word ‘institute’ is a harsh symbolism which reflects society’s view of him. They have banished him to an isolated place where he is not rehabilitated or cured, but simply institutionalised. Now, he takes ‘whatever pity’ that is on the ‘dole’, the ‘dole’ referring to charitable hand outs given to people who are unable to gain a steady income. This is further emphasised when he notices how the women ‘passed from him to the strong men’ as though he is too weak to take interest in. The final two lines depict his neediness and insecurity as he struggles to go to bed by himself. He grumpily remarks on ‘how cold and late it is!’ and the repeats the phrase ‘why don’t they come?’ The exclamation point makes his remark sounds like a hyperbole as he becomes despairingly adamant for attention. This makes him seem like an old person who is reliant on others to care for his well-being. This corresponds to the way the nurses treat him, as though he is not worth the effort to help out. Empathy is felt by the reader as they pity the fact that he needs help to do the simplest of