Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Owen combines the verb "cursed" with the image of the soldiers old women, or "hags," as they head toward a place to rest. They are no longer the youthful soldiers they once were. The fighting and the fear of fighting has broken their bodies. “Knock-kneed” and “bent double,” they don't even sound capable of anything as physically demanding as marching. Instead, all they can do, like one imagines all old beggars and hags can do, is curse every painful movement they make on their way to their destination. One even gets the feeling that it is the one thing keeping them alive—the moment they stop cursing is the moment they leave themselves vulnerable to death. As Owen continues to say, the men were so tired that they “marched asleep” and ignored the shells, “the five-nines,” exploding around them.
The verb "cursed" quite simply describes something much more nuanced than "walked" or "marched." If the soldiers are "cursing" as they move through the sludge, we picture them muttering amongst themselves, swearing, and generally dissatisfied with their own existence. We can assume that they are walking, and indeed may be marching, but to state that they "marched" without any other description would imply that they were soldiers simply doing what they were told, probably without complaint. Soldiers who "cursed" through sludge are not simply soldiers, but human. The choice of this particular verb confronts us with the reality of their reactions to that sludge, their inner monologues and the way they must feel about their own existence at this time. The soldiers do not battle through the horrors of war uncomplainingly, and it would be unrealistic to expect them to do so.
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