Greater Love - Synopsis and commentary

Synopsis of Greater Love

Image of Remembrance cross and poppy available through Creative Commons Owen addresses a personification of ‘Love’ throughout this poem, and compares it disparagingly with the greater love demonstrated by soldiers prepared to die for the sake of others:

The ‘red lips’ associated with erotic love are less red (and therefore meaningful) than the stones stained by the blood of the young men who have died in the war
The benevolence demonstrated by lovers is lacklustre compared to the purity of the soldiers’ sacrifice
Love’s eyes lack appeal compared with the eyes of those who have sacrificed their sight for the poet (and others)
Love’s typical posture is nothing compared to the tortured limbs of the dying
The songs of love are not as precious as the vanished voices of the dead
Love’s passionate heart is still not as great as the hearts of men filled with shot
The pale countenance associated with love is not as colourless as corpses which have lost their lives for the sake of a greater love
And now Love’s grief is pointless, as the dead are beyond its reach.

Investigating Greater Love

In Greater Love Owen celebrates camaraderie: the relationship on the field of battle between comrades in arms. Compare Greater Love with At a Calvary near the Ancre
- How does Owen present the concept of ‘greater love’ in these two poems?
Look at The Dead Beat and S.I.W. and see how the presentation of love there compares to what you have noted in Greater Love and At a Calvary near the Ancre.

Commentary on Greater Love

Literary allusions

In the title, Greater Love, Owen is referring to the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 15:13, on the night before he was tried and crucified:

My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

In examining the idea of what constitutes the greatest love, Owen uses a model famously employed by Shakespeare in Sonnet 18, where he takes a series of analogies about love and undermines them by stating that they don’t go far enough:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Sonnet 18

This poetic device is also seen in Algernon George Swinburne’s poem Before the Mirror which begins:

White rose in red rose-garden
Is not so white..

More on Before the Mirror by Algernon George Swinburne?

Both Owen and Swinburne look at unconventional love and the idea that the greatest love human beings can give isn’t that which is institutionalised (in Swinburne’s case, by marriage; in Owen’s, by being offered to God). For Owen, the greatest love is seen in the sacrifice of one’s life for one’s fellow men.

Context

The poem was written between November 1917 and January 1918. In May 1917 Owen had written a letter home that was almost a direct quotation of the passage from John’s gospel which is the basis for Greater Love:

Christ is literally in no man's land. There men often hear his voice: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life- for a friend.
Is it spoken in English only and French?
I do not believe so.
Thus you see how pure Christianity will not fit in with pure patriotism

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.

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