Wilfred Owen, selected poems Contents
- Wilfred Owen: Social and political background
- Wilfred Owen: Religious / philosophical context
- Wilfred Owen: Literary context
- Wilfred Owen: 1914
- Wilfred Owen: Anthem for Doomed Youth
- Wilfred Owen: At a Calvary near the Ancre
- Wilfred Owen: Disabled
- Wilfred Owen : Dulce et Decorum Est
- Wilfred Owen: Exposure
- Wilfred Owen: Futility
- Wilfred Owen: Greater Love
- Wilfred Owen: Hospital Barge
- Wilfred Owen: Insensibility
- Wilfred Owen: Inspection
- Wilfred Owen: Le Christianisme
- Wilfred Owen: Mental Cases
- Wilfred Owen: Miners
- Wilfred Owen: S.I.W
- Wilfred Owen: Soldier’s Dream
- Wilfred Owen: Sonnet On Seeing a Piece of Our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action
- Wilfred Owen: Spring Offensive
- Wilfred Owen: Strange Meeting
- Wilfred Owen: The Dead-Beat
- Wilfred Owen: The Last Laugh
- Wilfred Owen: The Letter
- Wilfred Owen: The Parable of the Old Man and the Young
- Wilfred Owen: The Send-Off
- Wilfred Owen: The Sentry
- Wilfred Owen: Wild with All Regrets
At a Calvery near the Ancre - Synopsis and commentary
Synopsis of At a Calvary near the Ancre
Owen describes a wayside shrine, known as a Calvary, which has been damaged by artillery fire. It is positioned at a road junction not far from the River Ancre. Calvaries were very common at crossroads in France. Owen points out that, in the image, the damaged Christ figure has been deserted by his disciples and left to the mercy of soldiers.
Golgotha or Calvary was the name of the place where Christ was crucified; fittingly ‘Golgotha’ is the Aramaic term for ‘the place of the skull’. Here, Owen is using it as a metaphor for the location for the war. Owen observes priests ignoring suffering (because they are actually agents of the devil) and religious leaders enforcing beliefs in the rightness of the state. Owen says that those who, like Christ, truly love their fellow men, lay down their lives for them and are not fuelled by hatred.
Investigating At a Calvary near the Ancre
- A famous teaching of Jesus is that: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends’ KJB John 15:13. Compare what Owen is saying about these words of Christ in At a Calvary near the Ancre to what he says in his poem Greater Love.
Commentary on At a Calvary near the Ancre
Owen wrote At a Calvary near the Ancre in late 1917 or early 1918. The Ancre is the name of the river which rises near Albert in France and flows into the River Somme. It was the scene of the last battle of the Somme. Owen was involved in action near the Ancre in January 1917, where he experienced the events he describes here, as well as in The Sentry and Futility.
The poem faces the paradox of Christ’s example of sacrificial love for the sake of those who did not love him (enemies) and the clergy’s injunction to fight and kill enemies for the sake of Britain. This contradiction leads Owen to conclude that the clergy is inspired not by Jesus but by his enemy, Satan (the Beast).
Investigating commentary on At a Calvary near the Ancre
- Read the following three poems which came out of the action Owen experienced near The Ancre: The Sentry, an account of Owen’s experiences and feelings in the dug-out where the sentry is blinded; Futility, which relates to the way frost and snow affected Owen and his men; At a Calvary near the Ancre, which is a poem about the religious tensions surrounding war.
- Examine Owen’s presentation of himself and his role in each poem.
- Look for similarities in the way Owen writes about war in each poem.
- How does Owen represent the fighting men in each poem?
- English Standard Version
- King James Version
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another. 18If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause. 26But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
A wayside shrine in France representing Christ’s crucifixion.
A tributary of the River Somme.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
1. Term meaning learner or follower.
2. Used in the New Testament in particularly of the twelve apostles of Jesus.
3. Now applied more generally to all Christians.
Name for the place where Jesus was crucified, also called 'the place of the the skull'.
The location, just outside Jerusalem, where according to the New Testament, Jesus is said to have been put to death on a cross.
Executed by nailing or binding a person to a cross.
An ancient language of the Middle East (spoken in first century Palestine at the time of Jesus).
A person whose role is to carry out religious functions.
Also known as Satan or Lucifer, the Bible depicts him as the chief of the fallen angels and demons, the arch enemy of God who mounts a significant, but ultimately futile, challenge to God's authority.
Title (eventually used as name) given to Jesus, refering to an anointed person set apart for a special task such as a king.
A tributary of the River Somme.
The name of the area or department of France where much of the fierce fighting of the war took place.
The collective term for priests and ministers of the church (as opposed to the non-ordained laity).
The name given to the man believed by Christians to be the Son of God. Also given the title Christ, meaning 'anointed one' or Messiah. His life is recorded most fully in the Four Gospels.
The devil; the term 'Satan' actually means 'Enemy' and is often used to refer to the force of evil in the world.
In the New Testament Book of Revelation, the symbol of an empire which persecutes Christ and his followers but is finally destroyed by him at the Second Coming.
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