Alzheimer's Poem Analysis

Wilfred Owens “Disabled” and Kelly Cherry’s “Alzheimer’s poems both involve the theme of physical or mental disabilities of a man and his helplessness to overcome it. While both poems have similar themes, they differ in storylines. Wilfred Owens “Disabled” and Kelly Cherry’s “Alzheimer’s” both use imagery, mood, and setting to express the theme of helplessness in their poems. In the poems “Disabled and “Alzheimer” imagery is used to relate back to the theme. In “Disabled” Owens writes “He’s lost color very far from here. Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry” (lines17-18) Owens uses the imagery in these lines to paint a dark picture of the man’s appearance. This sad image we receive from Owens imagery relates back to the theme of helplessness. Kelly Cherry also uses imagery in her poem “Alzheimer’s”. “He remembers himself, A younger man, in a tweed hat, a man who loved Music. There is no time for that now” (lines18-20). Here Cherry uses her imagery to describe a happy man in the past tense to fit the theme by showing the change in the man’s life.

Wilfred Owens points back to the theme by using a specific emotional perspective. “women’s eyes passed from him to the stronger men that were whole. How cold and late is it? Why don’t they come and put him to bed? Why don’t they come?” Owens sets the mood to match the theme by asking questions about why the good things in his life no longer occur. Cherry does the same in her poem. “The first thing he must do, now that he is home, is decide who this woman is, this old, white haired woman.” (lines 26-27). Just like Owns poems questions are asked from the narrators prospective. This indicates the man’s disability, setting the mood by showing the man’s