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Theme: War
Subject: the cruelty of war through the destruction of innocence in a young boy.
Spoken: in a third-person
Warfare: "Arms and the Boy" doesn't describe any actual fighting, but it does give us a
vivid picture of a young soldier who, apparently, is learning the ropes of warfare. He's
young, doesn't know how to use his gun.
Innocent: He's innocent in the sense of "not guilty" (the weapons are the real bad guys
in this poem), but he's also innocent in the sense of inexperienced, young, unaware yet
of the painful realities of war. Governments, weapons, and warfare in general, though,
are doing their best to take away his adolescent innocence.
Death: The boy's bayonet-blade resembles some kind of murderous monster (it is
hungry for "flesh"), his bullets want to bury themselves in the chest of an enemy, and
his cartridge is compared to a mouth of sharp, canine teeth. As if this weren't enough,
the entire last stanza talks about various killing instrumentsclaws, talons, and antlers.
Theme: The title of the poem, "Arms and the Boy," has two partsthe arms and the
boy. Before you say duh!, hear us out. Including both those things in the title helps set
us up for the poem's double focus: the boy soldier and the weapons of warfare that he
must learn to use.
Setting: World War Camp
Personification: By giving the weapons minds of their own, Owen subtly points to the
senselessness of the violence these soldiers experienced. It's as if men were killing each
other simply because that's what their bayonets and bullets wanted them to do.
The use of adjetives or words such us malice, madman, death, famishing
totally contrast with the innocent and naive characteristics that young boy should have.
In this way the poet gains our sympathy for them, as well as arouse our hatred towards
war - a cruel place.
Line
1-2
Metaphor
personification
a blade cant actually
be hungry. compares
the bayonet to a animal
Symbol
3-4
the bayonet-blade is
compared to some type
of starving, murderous,
and carnivorous
animal.
5-6
7-8
10
11
12
simile