Futility (poem)
Encyclopedia
Futility is a poem by Wilfred Owen
, possibly the most renowned poet of the First World War, written in May of 1918 and published as no. 153 in 'The Complete Poems and Fragments'. The poem is well-known for its departure from Owen's famous style of including disturbing and graphic images in his work; the poem instead having a more soothing, somewhat light-hearted feel to it in comparison. It details an event where a group of soldiers attempt to revive an unconscious soldier by moving him into the warm sunlight on a snowy meadow. However, the "kind old sun" has absolutely no effect on the soldier - he has died.
set "Futility" to music she had composed; the track was included on an NME compilation cassette in October 1982 and on Virginia Astley's 1983 album Promise Nothing.
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...
, possibly the most renowned poet of the First World War, written in May of 1918 and published as no. 153 in 'The Complete Poems and Fragments'. The poem is well-known for its departure from Owen's famous style of including disturbing and graphic images in his work; the poem instead having a more soothing, somewhat light-hearted feel to it in comparison. It details an event where a group of soldiers attempt to revive an unconscious soldier by moving him into the warm sunlight on a snowy meadow. However, the "kind old sun" has absolutely no effect on the soldier - he has died.
- Move him into the sun—
- Gently its touch awoke him once,
- At home, whispering of fields unsown.
- Always it woke him, even in France,
- Until this morning and this snow.
- If anything might rouse him now
- The kind old sun will know.
- Think how it wakes the seeds,—
- Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
- Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
- Full-nerved—still warm—too hard to stir?
- Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- —O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
- To break earth’s sleep at all?
Depictions in popular culture
In 1982, singer Virginia AstleyVirginia Astley
Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. From the start of her songwriting career in 1980, Astley took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music...
set "Futility" to music she had composed; the track was included on an NME compilation cassette in October 1982 and on Virginia Astley's 1983 album Promise Nothing.