Wilfred Owens 'Futility' Explained

Wilfred Owen's poetry usually describes the grotesque reality of the frontline of WWI; however, this poem concentrates on the meaning of existence, and the futility (pointlessness) of war and inevitability of death. The narrator of this poem is having an existential crisis; what is the point of being born if you are just going to die a few years later? It is common for people to question death and what comes after death, especially if that person is surrounded by death or on the verge of death themselves. Soldiers are faced with death every day, the death of their fellow soldiers and of their enemies; being surrounded by death on a daily basis can lead anyone to feel betrayed by life and life-givers. The anonymity of this poem allows it to universal; it can be describing any soldier. This poem also serves as an elegy, which is a song, poem, or speech that expresses grief for one who is dead, and it is usually melancholy in tone.
Move him into the sun- (line 1)

The poem begins with the narrator ordering that the man be moved into the sun; this leads us to believe that the narrator is of a high rank than the person he was talking to, someone of low rank would not be giving orders to someone who outranked him.

Gently its touch awoke him once,

At home, whispering of fields half-sown. (2- 3)

The sun is personified in this poem; the sun is described as gently touching the man, rousing him from sleep, which is a motherly thing to do. The sun woke the man briefly, and his last moments were filled with memories of his childhood on a farm. The sun whispers to him, which is another human quality. Fields half-sown has a dual meaning: first, fields are only partially seeded (it's the beginning of planting season); second, it is a metaphor for a life not fully lived. Many soldiers in WWI were barely eighteen years old, and hadn't even had the opportunity to experience life.

Always it woke him, even in France,

Until this morning and this snow.

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