Looking Back - What He's Lost Forever
The flashback reveals everything this young man has been robbed of. He remembers dancing when "glow-lamps budded" and girls looked beautiful in the evening light - all the romantic experiences he'll never have again.
Owen's metaphor "threw away his knees" is particularly clever because it suggests the soldier made a choice, even though he was manipulated into it. Now girls avoid him "like some queer disease" - society doesn't know how to deal with disabled veterans.
The poem reveals he's aged immensely in just one year. An artist once wanted to paint his handsome face, but now "he's lost his colour very far from here" - the war has drained all life and vitality from him.
The blood imagery "poureditdownshell−holes","purplespurtedfromhisthigh" creates uncomfortable, visceral reminders of war's reality. Owen uses clunky alliteration to make these descriptions feel as uncomfortable as the memories themselves.
Remember: Owen served in WWI himself, so these aren't just imagined horrors - they're based on real experiences he witnessed firsthand.