Maundy Thursday
by Wilfred Owen
Between the brown hands of a server-lad
The silver cross was offered to be kissed.
The men came up, lugubrious, but not sad,
And knelt reluctantly, half-prejudiced.
(And kissing, kissed the emblem of a creed.)
Then mourning women knelt; meek mouths they had.
(And kissed the Body of the Christ indeed.)
Young children came, with eager lips and glad.
(These kissed a silver doll, immensely bright.)
Then I, too, knelt before that acolyte.
Above the crucifix I bent my head:
The Christ was thin, and cold, and very dead:
And yet I bowed, yea, kissed – my lips did cling.
(I kissed the warm live hand and held the thing.)
Definitions?
Maundy Thursday
= A Christian holy day
= Falls on the day before Good Friday
= Commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles
Maundy
= Washing of the Feet
Lugubrious
= Mournful/ dismal, especially in an affected/ exaggerated manner
Emblem
= A symbol that identifies/ represents something
Creed
= System/ doctrine of religious belief
Acolyte
= Altar attendant in public worship
Context?
- This sonnet probably dates from May 1915.
- Wilfred Owen attended a Good Friday service in the French Roman Catholic
Church at Merignac on 1 April 1915, where he might have witnessed the
ceremony of the ‘Veneration of the Cross’.
* Veneration = Reverence
Owen’s Religious Beliefs?
One result of Wilfred Owen's two years as lay assistant to the Vicar of
Dunsden was his loss of taste for evangelical religion. Yet later, surprisingly, at
Bordeaux where he went to teach English in a languages school, he showed
that his religious sense had not entirely deserted him. He got on well with the
English Pastor there, he attended prayers and Bible classes at the Union
Chretienne; he also sought out a Reformed church and the Protestant Temple.
Family influences still had power to draw him back, just as in an opposite
direction they tended to confirm him in certain prejudices. One such prejudice
was against Roman Catholicism.
In France he attended five Roman Catholic services. On the first occasion Midnight Mass Christmas 1913 - it was the sniggering of his friends and an
uncomfortable draught, not the ritual, that irritated him. But the following
Easter he was deploring the non-observance of Good Friday; then at a funeral
service in the May he declared himself almost seduced by Catholicism but
added that 'the illusion soon passed.' High Mass at Christmas 1914 brought the
comment, 'It would take a power of candlegrease and embroidery to romanize
me.' Finally at Easter 1915 he went twice: High Mass on the Sunday when he
called candle, book and bell 'all like abominations of desolation', and the
service of Veneration of the Cross which in the Letters he attributes to Good
Friday. 'Always I come out from these performances an hour and a half older:
otherwise unchanged,' he wrote.
Concerns?
The poem describes the speaker’s disenchantment and unique rebellion against
Roman Catholicism.
•
-
Faith
Questions of faith
Societal conformity
Rebellion against normalcy
Structure?
• Form
- Petrarchan/ Shakespearean sonnet
• Rhyme Scheme
- Abab cdcd ee ff gg
• Meter
- Iambic pentameter
- Disrupted in ‘but, not sad’ to emphasize their out-of-placeness in the context
of the poem and its events
• Parenthesis
- Every two lines in describing the men, women and children
- Combined with iambic pentameter represent the repetitive rituals associated
with the holy day
• Caesura (excessive)
- In lines 2 and 3 convey reluctance
- In line 12 presents a mocking, matter of fact tone
Language?
• "Lugubrious" - shows the solemnity of the Roman Catholic ritual. However,
Owen adds "but not sad" at the end of the line, implying a sense of
insincerity from the men or perhaps in the faith itself. This quote could
suggest the religion is all for show and lacking in depth when it actually
comes to belief.
• "Reluctantly, half-prejudiced" - this quote suggests Owen believes that even
Catholics are not whole hearted in their religion and are being forced into
rituals such as this. This presents a distaste surrounding religion and
Catholics. The word "creed", used in the next line, reinforces this sentiment.
• "Meek mouths" - the word "meek" shoes Owen's view of women; timid and
easily influenced. This description of the women portrays them to be as
reluctant as the men to kiss the hand of Christ.
• "Eager lips and glad" - this quote presents the naivety and impressionable
nature of children and their enthusiasm to join their seniors in this religious
ceremony. The words "silver doll, immensely bright" shows a symbol of this
religion that both appeals to young children but also presents the superficial
side of Catholicism where money is spent unnecessarily on figures made of
precious metals.
• "Thin, cold and very dead" - this quote is suggestive of Owen’s disbelief and
cynical view of Catholicism or perhaps religion in general, that faith is not
going to bring back Christ and that a dead man cannot grant the wishes of
the people that worship him.
• "And yet I bowed" - despite his negative view of the ceremony, Owen
participates and bows before the statue of Christ anyway, perhaps out of
respect or even the smallest glimmer of belief.
• "Warm live hand, held the thing"- this quote suggests that Christ will be alive
if you have faith (that his followers are rewarded for their belief). Holding
the hand of Christ can be seen as a very reassuring image and adds a sense
of hope to the cynical tone of this sonnet.
Personal Response?
• The poem is heavily ironic.
- Owen looks at everyone around him, how devoted they are to Roman
Catholicism, and mocks them. He tries to understand but doesn’t.
- ‘And yet I bowed, yea, kissed – my lips did cling.’ Owen performs the ritual
too but with apparent disenchantment. ‘Yea’ suggests disbelief, as if he
himself can’t believe he’s doing it either, and believing the audience has the
same point of view.
THE END