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

• Meter

- Iambic pentameter

- Disrupted in ‘but, not sad’ to emphasize their out-of-placeness in the context of the poem and its events

• Rhyme Scheme

- Abab cdcd ee ff gg

• 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