First World War Poetry Digital Archive

Page 4: trench feet and letters

Owen describes the inspection of the soldiers' feet which was carried out to detect early signs of trench foot. As he notes the soldiers used whale oil to protect their skin. He also notes that all bar two soldiers are now covered in lice, punning 'Lice-ntious'. Finally he describes the problems of censoring the men's mail, noting how sad the messages home can be.