- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
WAR POETRY AND
THE REALM OF
THE SENSES:
OWEN AND
ROSENBERG
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••santanu das
In ‘The Storyteller’, Walter Benjamin observes the strange phenomenon that the
soldiers returned from the First World War have grown silent—‘not richer, but
poorer in communicable experience’—unable to articulate the ‘truth of war’ with
any more coherence or force than Owen’s soldier could utter the lie.^1 This was
often literally the case as one of the most common symptoms of shell-shock (or
neurasthenia, as it was then known) was mutism. Along with nightmares, tremors,
and mutism, the war issues of the British medical journalThe Lancetreported cases
of blindness and deafness, resulting from what the eyes and ears had witnessed.^2 A
month before his death, Wilfred Owen wrote to Siegfried Sassoon about his servant
Jones, ‘shot through the head, [who] lay on top of me, soaking my shoulder, for half
(^1) Walter Benjamin, ‘The Storyteller’, inIlluminations, trans. Harry Zohn, ed. Hannah Arendt
(London: Jonathan Cape, 1970), 84.
(^2) See F. W. Mott, ‘The Effects of High Explosives upon the Central Nervous System’,The Lancet,12
and 26 Feb., 11 Mar. 1916, 331–8, 441–9, 545–53; and the anonymously authored ‘Neurasthenia and
Shell Shock’,The Lancet, 18 Mar. 1916, 627. For recent discussion of ‘shell-shock’, see Ben Shephard,
AWarofNerves(London: Jonathan Cape, 2000).