'Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,/ And builded parapets and trenches there,/ And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son' - Discuss the significance of sacrifice in relation to two Wilfred Owen poems.

Following Owen's experience as an Anglican and a soldier after working for a vicarage, his disillusionment with politics, war, and Christianity is therefore bound to his depiction of sacrifice, as they draw together an apocalyptic ending to servitude of civilians. 'The Parable of the Old Man and the Young', which the quote above is drawn from, parodies the same-titled Biblical story where Abram is saved from sacrificing his son at the last minute, after he proves he would do anything for the Lord's favour. However, in Owen's political interpretation, Abram does not heed the angel's cry: 'Lay not thy hand upon the lad', and murders his son rather than the intended sacrifice of the 'Ram of Pride'. Owen's allegory is that those 'older men' with political power actively choose to kill countless young men and 'slew... half the seed of Europe', as they cannot confront their pride and reconcile.
'Futility' takes a more literal perspective, depicting a young man's body after he has been killed, and how the other soldiers attempt to revive him or give him dignity in death by moving him into the sun: 'If anything might rouse him now,/ the kind old sun will know'. The title itself indicates Owen's disillusionment, which is further indicated as he states 'Was it for this the clay grew tall?' drawing in Biblical allusion to the origin of man, and referencing 'from ashes to ashes, dust to dust'. Life appears ridiculous against the inevitability of death. Owen's insinuation that the sacrifice of young soldiers is too great for the conclusion of peace at the end of the war is summarised in the poem's conclusion: 'O what made fatuous sunbeams toil/ To break earth's sleep at all?'