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, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
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Poem
From guest Squirley 5 (contact)
This poem is my favoutite war time one as it is so important to the seemingly great war and how the people of the time discovered how advanced so much had become and they were not prepared for it. The idea of corrupting the bible passage and creating a darker and sinister story is powerful. Abram was tested in his love to God and agreed to kill his son for him but was stopped in time and proved his love and got his son. Yet this time Abram stands as the military rulers of the world and is tested having the danger of sacrifsing so many generations of young men and they are offered a way out by swallowing pride but they could not do that and went ahead and killed more and more and the sad thing is there was a lot more innocents than they thought. war is pointless controlled by men who have nothing but pride to lose. wilfred and siegfried sasoon understand that becasue they lived in that world and you cannot agrue with that. I would suggest you all ready 'regeneration' mentions them really good. -
From guest quinten (contact)
I'm in Year 12 in Australia and for English Extenstion 2 I'm writing a short story about a British born boy with German parents who signs up to fight for the Brits in WW1, to try to remind people my age that war is no game. I'm calling it 'Isaac in the Winter of the World', because of this poem and my other favourite of Wilfred Owens, '1914'-"War broke: and now the winter of the world". I'm now at the same age as most of the men and boys who died, and I keep thinking what would've happened if I'd been alive then? Owen is a truly great poet, one of the best modernists. The tragedy of his death, having died only months before the war ended, only adds to the potency and relevance of his works. -
Great Poem
From guest April Tattersall (contact)
This poem is a contrast of a biblical parable and war. In the parable Abram is a founder of the race but in this poem he is being shown as a destroyer of a race. The main message behind this poem is that war was a unecessary sacrifice. -
very good poem
From guest Ben Walker (contact)
this poem obviously shows the contrast between war and religion and also portrays the waste of life during world war one. -
Still, perhaps, the most potent war (or anti-war) poem ever written, for my money....
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for Jenny
Jenny may I suggest you read the comments below. these opinions have been left by others who have also read this poem. Read their words and then after perhaps reading the poem again you will be able to make a decision for yourself.
Von - Oldpoetry -
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This poem is in direct contrast to the story of Abraham who, offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God (Genesis 22) an Angel calls to Abraham to stop. Abraham has proved his devotion to God therefore he is not required to complete the command.
However in this poem the Old Man is now the Military Leaders who go on to kill many sons.
By using the biblical-like language Owen stresses the harsh mockery of the authorities who, in their own arrogance and pride, go on with the slaughter, killing whole generations of young men.
Von -
My personal opinion is that he was one of first 'modern' poets like most of the war poets, they were speaking in every day terms about the horrors around them, however he managed to move that forward (he gave it intellectual passion) the passion that he could not find as a romantic poet, partially because the movement was dying, the art movement was already changing and poetry was lagging behind.
I also think he would have had a major influence on poetry had he survived the war, but then would he have been able to adapt to peace time writing?
In a sense an anti-love poet but this poem along with some of his works indicate a great humanitarian love that for me is almost unequalled in WW1 poetry.
Your last part about the relevance today was the reason for my promoting, I have always thought this piece rather timeless in that respect.
Jules -
Smilingspider, we are in complete agreement on Wilfred Owen’s poetry. When I said ‘He was consumed by the war’ I meant as your described, I was trying to relate that the horror of the war consumed him such that he found true passion in his poetry and also that the war also took his life.
Not only is Wilfred Owen a good read, he is really an interesting study. Prior to the war he tried so hard to emulate the love poets but couldn’t find their passion, yet when he found his voice he had their passion anyway. Sadly he was really an anti-love poet.
And; I like your comment now – lets leave Uncle Sam at home, and hope he stays there. However I do share your observation on the naivety. (It’s what happens if you replace review with slapstick, I think.)
I’m sure it’s not lost on you, also. The horror of WWI was created quite innocently out of nothing more than a simple array of national alignment, agreements coupled with just a little international interference. We live in dangerous times.
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I was nice I did edit my comment after all!
I think there are times in your life where you may be challenged to make a stand, he felt that challenge and chose to fight, I do not feel he was consumed by it, more that the war consumed him as it did many many millions in both wars. What annoyed me was that they were hard read points yet half the people clicked and left, nothing, and those that did comment did not even bother to read the piece, it is not a hard piece to read, you get little hints throughout the piece that when you read the last two lines you 'should' without difficulty understand what is being said. 'Letters' is the one book of his I still want to get, I have read bits here and there but I would like to see the whole. Many thanks for reading, and understanding. -
Hey Smilingspider be nice. – You picked a wonderful poem and poet to promote – I think, Wilfred Owen is such a yardstick. He tried so hard to be a poet, without success. He objected to the war initially but changed his mind and was consumed by it, but what a platform it became for his voice (verse). Another sad reality of life. As an aside have you ever read any of his “Letters to Susan” The letters are so vivid, ‘wonderful’ not only because of what he describes but also because of the language he uses in doing so, even better than his poetry (Susan was his Mother). – really worth the read (be warned if you lend people your book of "Letters to Susan" the borrower will keep it – it has happened to me three times so far). Thank you for promoting the poem – I love it (and; I too would like to stop the middle east thing).
Edited on Jul 02, 9:07 p.m. because ''. -
OKAY IT WAS ME THAT PROMOTED THIS AND I HAVE TO SAY THAT YOU LOT WOULD NOT FIND A METAPHOR IF IT WAS STUCK TO YOUR FOREHEAD READ THE LAST TWO LINES LOOK AT THE DATE 1916 FIRST WORLD WAR.
Edited on Jul 02, 8:47 p.m. because ''. -
I echo the above, the last two lines weren't clear to me. Is this (ahh my Bible memory is fading) referring to the Arabs and Jews, how both came from Abraham seed?
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Very interesting piece to be able to read all these years later. Know the story very well and I for one am glad it turned out the way it did instead of the way the author wrote it. Nice read and write. MLP...S
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Interesting piece. It's kind of a twisty thing at the end. Like the what would of happend if Abram didn't listen to the angel. He could of killed his son, turned on everyone else and gone on a killing spree. Though I don't quite understand why a metaphor or parable of the Bible was used... Very mysterious, very genius
-Abby Eyeball- -
Well, I don't really understand this poem. I suppose there is (probably) some sort of biblical references in it... and as I do not belong to a bible-reading religion, I know nothing of that but the basics.
The poem itself however, sheeeeze, the language. It's so wonderfull reading the words... saying them in my head... they kind of.. trip along. and it's great.
-Chelsea -
I get Goosebumbs every time I read this,
strange how even though it was written 75 years ago it
still bears down on us today the relevance
is not lost.
A great poem from a great, great poet.
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