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1 Describe key features.
One key feature of shellshock was that is was not well understood at the time and it often mimicked other diseases. For example symptoms included tiredness, loss of speech, headaches, shaking and complete mental breakdown. Doctors at the time had never experienced anything like this before and did not know what to do. A second key feature of shellshock was that it was caused by soldiers witnessing the mass death and destruction of the war, and they weren’t mentally prepared for it. For example 80 000 British troops experienced it, with many accused of cowardice and some punished. The high numbers of men suffering meant that the army tried to cover it up by giving it a code in doctors notes of NYD.N. |
Source A: From ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, a poem by Wilfred Owen in 1917 whilst he was being treated for shellshock. He served on the Western Front in 1916-17 and returned in 1918, where he was killed in action shortly before the end of the war. In Latin the end of the poem means ‘it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’.
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2a Utility
Source A is partially useful for an enquiry into shellshock. For example it explains what is going on in the mind of a soldiers who was suffering from shellshock, such as “in my dreams before my helpless sight. He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. This reflects the helplessness of the author, Wilfred Owen as he goes through the motions of fighting in the war and feeling out of control, and that his mind is strangling him. Shellshock symptoms were soldiers feeling out of control and unable to process what was going on around them that this source seems to reflect. The source is also useful as Owen was a soldier who experienced shellshock, so it is a first account written at the height of the war. It does give detail on the confusion a soldier with shell shock would of gone through.
However its utility is extremely limited for an enquiry into shellshock because it is a poem, therefore it could be exaggerated to make the poem work. Also, this is only Owen’s account we don’t know if all cases were like his. Furthermore as it is a poem it is not a comprehensive overview of how it was diagnosed or treated. It therefore is limited in its comprehension, as poetry is guided by artistic licence and open to interpretation. This source is not typical of all cases of shellshock!
Source A is partially useful for an enquiry into shellshock. For example it explains what is going on in the mind of a soldiers who was suffering from shellshock, such as “in my dreams before my helpless sight. He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. This reflects the helplessness of the author, Wilfred Owen as he goes through the motions of fighting in the war and feeling out of control, and that his mind is strangling him. Shellshock symptoms were soldiers feeling out of control and unable to process what was going on around them that this source seems to reflect. The source is also useful as Owen was a soldier who experienced shellshock, so it is a first account written at the height of the war. It does give detail on the confusion a soldier with shell shock would of gone through.
However its utility is extremely limited for an enquiry into shellshock because it is a poem, therefore it could be exaggerated to make the poem work. Also, this is only Owen’s account we don’t know if all cases were like his. Furthermore as it is a poem it is not a comprehensive overview of how it was diagnosed or treated. It therefore is limited in its comprehension, as poetry is guided by artistic licence and open to interpretation. This source is not typical of all cases of shellshock!