Imagery (Junior Cert English): Revision Notes

Imagery

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks"

• Owen opens the poem with the image of soldiers: "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks."

  • This simile vividly captures the soldiers' exhaustion and suffering, showing how the war has physically and mentally broken them.
  • The comparison to "old beggars" highlights how the soldiers, once young and strong, have been reduced to a pitiful state by the hardships of battle.

• This image challenges the romanticised view of soldiers as heroic and noble, instead presenting them as worn down and desperate.

"His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin"

• Owen describes the soldier caught in the gas attack with the image of "His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin."
• This simile emphasises the horror and agony of the soldier's death, making his face appear grotesque and twisted.
• The comparison to a devil "sick of sin" conveys a sense of deep suffering and corruption, reflecting the unnatural and brutal nature of war.
• This image powerfully evokes disgust and pity, reinforcing the poem's critique of war as a destructive and dehumanising force.