Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge”
-- Speaker (Lines 1 – 2)

Importance: These lines open the poem upon an undistinguished, almost pathetic scene. In contrast to the glorious picture of war suggested by the Latin title, these opening lines indicate that a very different picture of war will emerge from Owen’s poem. In this picture, young men are transformed into “old beggars” (1) and “hags” (2), spitting offensive words as they march through mud. The lines introduce one of the central tensions of the poem, that between the musicality of its language and the hodgepodge nature of its rhythm. The assonance of the “a” in “sacks” (1) and “hags” (2) and the consonance of the “ck” in “sacks” (1) and “knock” (2) contrast with the interruptions provoked by the three caesurae, mirroring the clash between armies that defines war.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, / But limped on, blood-shod. All...
-- Speaker (Lines 5 – 6)