The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

Photo taken by a 16 year old German soldier in 1918

Homework:
1) Read up on who Abraham was (and the difference between Abram and Abraham) and who Isaac came to be. How many different aspects of War and Edwardian society could they represent?
2) Spot the difference: look at the original text from the King James Bible and Owen's. Where are the differences? What is the relevance of these changes? Look at structure (iambic pentameter, rhyme, layout) as well.
2b) What is particularly shocking about Owen choosing to manipulate the bible in this way in terms of society's reception to such a poem? What does this indicate about what he saw as the role of a poet?
3) What's with the title? Why no names? Where is the emphasis and what is the relevance?
4) BYOD/Visual Revision. Copy and paste the poem multiple times (you need 5000 characters) into http://textisbeautiful.net/create/. Click 'Visualise your text'. Select 'Correlation wheel'. Look at the arrangement of words with their main subject: what is linked to what?  Why have certain words ended up together? What does this tell you about aspects of the text? Also experiment with Topic Web and Topic Cloud. Save (as PNG)and upload your final choice to the blog with a short summation of what you have found out. Print out and annotate.
4b) Construct a mood collage: find images representing Abraham and Isaac figures in modern culture, or as WWI images, with key quotes.

Watch this extract of Regeneration (from 3.50) for a pretty powerful version of this poem

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young
original extract from King James Bible

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young


So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,

And took the fire with him, and a knife.

And as they sojourned both of them together,

Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,

Behold the preparations, fire and iron,

But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?

Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,

and builded parapets and trenches there,

And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.

When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,

Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,

Neither do anything to him. Behold,

A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;

Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.


But the old man would not so, but slew his son,

And half the seed of Europe, one by one.



Research this poem. The Wilfred Owen Society is a good place to start.