Memory Fingers In Their Hair Of Murders Wilfred Owen Analysis

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The second stanza introduces the reader to the memories that the young men must suffer time and time, every day. Through the use of personification in “memory fingers in their hair of murders”, Owen communicates on a personal level to the reader, painting the visual image of an old man anxiously pushing his fingers through his hair. The soldiers are being tormented by their memories of the death they had witnessed and are resulting in pulling their own hair out to distract their minds from their memories. They cannot be still. They cannot be calm. It is as though their brains had been turned to mush. Owen then uses the descriptive language of “Treading blood from lungs that once loved laughter” to stir an emotional response from the reader.