The+Parable+of+the+Old+Man+and+the+Young

== =‘The Parable of the Old Man and the Young’= =Wilfred Owen=

Wilfred Owen chooses to base his poem on the biblical story of Abraham and his son Isaac. In the bible, when Abraham has demonstrated his obedience, God sends a ram for Abraham to sacrifice rather than his son. The bible story is meant to emphasise the mercy of God. Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish people and also is important in Islam. The story parallels God’s later sacrifice of his own son Jesus Christ, to redeem the sins of the world.

Owen reworks the traditional parable, setting his story in the trenches of World War One rather than in the Holy Land. Owen’s poem is a sinister reworking of the parable in which Abraham becomes representative of the British government and instead of sacrificing the Ram of Pride chooses to slay his son and “half the seed of Europe”. The failure of the Angel to persuade Abraham to slay the Ram suggests that the war could have been prevented had proper negotiations taken place. The speaker of the poem feels that the government has gone against the teachings of God.

THINKING POINTS

 * 1) Why do you think Owen chose this particular parable of Abraham and Isaac to parody in his poem?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For an annotated version of this poem, click here: To view the original draft of this poem, click here: To read the version of this parable from the St James' version of The Bible, click here:

Remember, also, these extracts from letters by Owen around this time:
He must be a creature of killable age now. //[of his young, French friend, Johnny de la Touche]// God so hated the world that he gave several millions of English-begotten sons that whosoever believeth in them should not perish, but have a comfortable life. //[of civilians who stayed at home and never fought]//

And the poem, 'Soldier's Dream', written in Autumn 1917, the year before:
I dreamed kind Jesus fouled the big-gun gears; And caused a permanent stoppage in all bolts; And buckled with a smile Mausers and Colts; And rusted every bayonet with His tears.

And there were no more bombs, of ours or Theirs, Not even an old flint-lock, not even a pikel. But God was vexed, and gave all power to Michael; And when I woke he'd seen to our repairs.