Owen developed the poem while he was a patient at Craiglockhart, a hospital for officers suffering with mental illness.[1] It was here that he met fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon and where his personal psychological healing from the traumas of war. "The Dead-Beat" marked the beginning of his writings as representations of soldiers who could no longer tell their own stories.[2]
In writing the poem, Owen received help from Sassoon, who he elsewhere called one of his dearest friends. Sassoon's influence is apparent particularly in the poem's anger over injustice.[3] Owen described the experience in a letter in which he suggested that the middle sections needed work.[1] The night he met Sassoon, he began writing "The Dead-Beat", as described in the letter: "After leaving him, I wrote something in Sassoon's style... The last thing he said was 'Sweat your guts out writing poetry!' 'Eh?' says I. 'Sweat your guts out, I say!'"[4]Pat Barker, in her novel Regeneration, describes a fictitious workshop between the poets based on this letter.[1]
Analysis
Like many of his poems about the war, Owen explored both courage and cowardice in "The Dead-Beat".[5] He also attempts to emulate the vernacular of a common soldier in a realistic war setting.[3] In particular, "The Dead-Beat" depicts how war can isolate rather than unite individuals who share common causes or experiences.[6]
