Wilfred Owen’s poem “Arms and the Boy” explores how young boys are taught to engage in war. This poem must be analyzed in the context of World War I, in which young men were sent into the brutal world of trench warfare, where they were unlikely to survive. Owen uses a great deal of figurative language in this poem to highlight the brutality of warfare and critique the way in which young men are taught to engage in it.

For example, Owen uses a simile to compare the blade to a flash of a madman’s anger. He also personifies the blade when he says that it is “famishing for flesh.” By portraying the boy’s blade as this angry, vicious object, he suggests that the boy will soon be like the blade when he goes to war. Owen also uses vivid imagery when he writes that

God will grow no talons at his heels
Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.

The image of a handsome young boy growing talons or antlers is unnatural and strange to visualize. By stating that God will not do this, Owen is showing readers how making young men engage in barbaric acts of violence like other animals is not natural for human beings.

Notice how the phrase “famishing for flesh” is also an example of alliteration, when a writer repeats an initial sound multiple times in a phrase. Owen uses several other alliterations in this poem, like when he writes about the “blind, blunt, bullet-leads.” These alliterations help him emphasize the harsh nature of these subjects and add an engaging musical quality to the writing.