Wilfred Owen and Strange Meeting

NOTES PART 1
Historical Background:
Strange Meeting is a poem about reconciliation. Two soldiers meet up in an imagined Hell, the
first having killed the second in battle. Their moving dialogue is one of the most poignant in modern war
poetry. Wilfred Owen fought and died in WW1, being fatally wounded just a week before the war ended
in May 1918. By all accounts he wanted to return to the front line, despite suffering from shell shock, to
justify his art. 'I know I shall be killed,' he told his brother, 'but it's the only place I can make my protest
from.' Owen disliked the gentle, sentimental poetry that gave a distorted view of the war. He wrote many
poems depicting the horror and helplessness; he wanted to capture the pity in his poetry. The majority of
the poem is a dialogue between the two soldiers, set in a dream-like environment that is in fact, Hell.
Enemies in war, the two become reconciliated in the end. Strange Meeting, the title taken from a poem
of Shelley's, called Revolt of Islam, is full of metaphor and symbol. Religious allusions play a part too. Owen
was very much torn in his faith but couldn't escape a strict religious upbringing. So biblical influences are
to the fore in certain parts of the poem.

This letter from Owen to a friend in 1917 shows a little of what the poet was thinking:

'Christ is literally in no man's land. There men often hear his voice: Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for a friend. Is it spoken in English only and French? I do not believe so. Thus
you see how pure Christianity will not fit in with pure patriotism.'

Owen's poem contains a message of love and forgiveness. It was written at a time when hate and loathing
were at their height, when a war on an unimaginable scale took the lives of millions of young men and
women.

It seemed that out of battle I escaped

Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,

Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred. 5
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands, as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,—
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell. 10

With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained;

Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
“Strange friend,” I said, “here is no cause to mourn.”
“None,” said that other, “save the undone years, 15
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild

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 After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour, 20
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled. 25
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress.
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery; 30
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery:
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels,
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells, 35
Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.
I would have poured my spirit without stint
But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.
Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.

“I am the enemy you killed, my friend. 40

I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now. . . .” 44

Outline of the poem:

Strange Meeting is a dramatic war poem with a difference. Almost all of the poem is set in an
imagined landscape within the speaker's mind. And what dialogue there is comes mostly from the mouth
of the second soldier, killed in action by the first. Owen broke with tradition, using pararhyme,
enjambment and subtle syntax to cause unease within the form of the heroic couplet. In doing so, he
helped bring the cruel war to the forefront, the poetry in the pity.

Analysis of the poem (Lines 1-22)

The title gives it away - this will be no ordinary meeting - and the opening two words add further
uncertainty about the coming encounter, the speaker saying it only seemed he came straight from the
battle and entered the tunnel that brought him to a curious landscape.

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 Note the pararhyme already working its magic with enjambment and alliteration to produce an
opening sentence the likes of which was new for the reader in 1920. A sense of hard, grinding history is
introduced with images of both granite and the titanic wars (the actual Titanic ship had foundered in
1912).

• So, the speaker is setting the scene. Having been transported, after his own death, to this
severe and shocking environment, he also comes across other soldiers who are having
difficulty 'sleeping', who are stuck in their minds or are dead.
• As the speaker tries to rouse them, one springs up, a sad and knowing look in his eyes,
hands held as if in benediction. Owen's use of internal rhyme and repetition is clear in
lines 7 - 10. Note piteous/eyes and distressful/bless together with smile, I knew and dead
smile, I knew.

By the end of the second stanza the reader is in no doubt of the ghostly, surreal and horrific nature of this
environment, which is a post-battle Hell. There are subtle hints that the speaker and the soldier with the
dead smile are known to each other.

• The third stanza's opening line has an extra beat (11 syllables) suggesting that the vision
of the dead soldier's face is extraordinary given that there is no connection to the real
world up above, the battlefield with all its personified sounds.
• Initiating dialogue, the speaker's opening comments are meant to allay fear and make a
connection free of animosity and sadness. The use of the word friend immediately flags
up the idea that this is a meeting between equals; there is now no enemy.
• The response is direct - at first agreement that mourning for the dead is not needed but
then acknowledgement of the many futures lost, the hopelessness of the situation.
• Note the syntax changing as the dialogue (monologue) develops. Enjambment disappears
and punctuation holds sway in terms of syntax, the pace within the iambic pentameter
steadied by comma and semi-colon.
• The dead soldier now comes 'alive' in line 17, the first person pronoun I signalling a more
personal approach. This soldier, this German soldier, also had a life full of hope, just as
the speaker had. Essentially, these two are the same, young men hunting after the wildest
beauty, the essence of life, that which cares not for routine things and feels deeply, even
in grief, much more so than in Hell. Note the pararhymes hair, hour and here, soft
sounding, almost ephemeral.

Analysis of the poem (Lines 23 - 44)

• All the emotion is ineffective now, from laughter to tears, it has died. And with it, the truth which
is yet to be told. This is the truth of pity, made up of sorrow and compassion, expressed when
others are suffering as they have been doing in untold numbers in the war.

Owen wanted more than anything to have his poetry stand for pity. In the preface to this book he wrote:
'My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.'

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 • Now men will go content...future generations might learn about peace, or join in this madness of
destruction that we started. They'll be more aggressive, stubborn and make hard work of any
progress.
• I thought I was brave and wise, going into the unknown, still a master of my own fate, but now
history is leaving me behind. How vulnerable the world will be.
• The wheels of the war machine grind to a halt in the blood that's been spilled; I will clean them,
purify and heal with water from the deep well. This is an allusion to the bible, John 4, 7-14 or
Revelation 7, 17, where water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The soldier is saying that he will wash
the blood clogged wheels with the pure (emotional) truth.
• I would have poured my spirit..again, this phrase comes from the bible, and is found in the books
of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel and Acts of the Apostles. Basically, the soldier is giving his life as sacrifice
for humanity, hoping that they will see the truth about war. (without stint means without limit).
But he does not want to waste it on the wounds or foul business of war.
• War results in psychological illness too, it's not all about blood and gore.
• That devastating line 40. The second soldier reveals to the first the grim news of his killing, but
does reciprocate and call him friend (see line 14). There is recognition of the shared expression
even as death occurred, which the second soldier tried in vain to avert.
• The first soldier's frown as he bayonets the second soldier is an expression of doubt, self-loathing
perhaps, a reluctance to kill.
• The final line has the second soldier suggesting they both sleep now, having been reconciled,
having learnt that pity, distilled by the awful suffering of war, is the only way forward for
humankind.

Rhyme and Metre:

Strange Meeting is written in heroic couplets and there are a total of 44 lines contained in four stanzas.
Note that lines 19-21 form a tercet, ending in three half rhymes: hair/hour/here. The last line is much
shorter and doesn't rhyme with any other line.

Rhyme

Owen is a master of pararhyme, where the stressed vowels differ but the consonants are similar, and uses
this technique throughout the poem. So note the end words: escaped/scooped, groined/groaned,
bestirred/stared and so on.

The second vowel is usually lower in pitch adding to the oddity of the sounds, bringing dissonance and a
sense of failure. So whilst there is common ground between the rhymes there is equally discomfort, the
feeling that something isn't quite what it should be.

If Owen had used full rhyme this unease would be missing, so the imperfection perfectly fits the surreal
situation of the two men meeting in Hell.

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Metrical Analysis

Strange Meeting is written in iambic pentameter, that is, the de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM de-DUM
stress pattern dominates, but there are lines that vary and these are important because they challenge
the reader to alter the emphasis on certain words and phrases.

So, here are three examples to illustrate, with lines 7, 27, and 30:

With pit / eous re /cognit / ion in / fixed eyes,

The first foot is iambic (non stress, stress ux), the second foot a pyrrhic (no stress, no stress, uu), the third
another iamb, the fourth another pyrrhic and the fifth foot a spondee (stress, stress xx).

Or, dis / content, / boil blood / y, and / be

The first foot is a trochee (stress, no stress, xu), the second is an iamb (no stress, stress ux), the third a
spondee (stress,stress xx), the fourth an iamb (no stress, stress ux) and the fifth foot an iamb.

Courage / was mine, / and I / had mys / tery.

Again, a trochee ( inverted iamb) starts the line before the iambic beat takes over the rest.

The iambic pentameter reflects the steady almost conversational natural pace of speech, whilst the
variations bring uncertainty, altered beats which echo battle and bring texture and added interest for the
reader.

NOTES PART 2 (Quick Read notes)

Background
• By Wilfred Owen, a poet who wrote about the First World War, having been a soldier in the British
Army. Written in the of spring 1918 – war raging in Europe, soon to reach its conclusion. The
audience, the British public, was awakened to the reality of war at this point because it had lasted
longer than propaganda had promised.

• Based on Sussoon’s the Rear Guard

• Sigfried Sussoon called it, “Owen’s passport to immortality,”

• Title based on a line from Shelly’s (a poet) The Revolt of Islam – gone forth whom no strange
meeting did befall.

• Recounts a dramatic meeting between 2 dead soldiers who had fought on opposing sides. As they
are no longer in conflict, they see beyond hatred and proclaim how war is worse than hell and
robs men of their lives and sanity.

• The oxymoron Strange Meeting is used because it was a meeting between an enemy soldier and
British soldier (as Owen saw himself as we can see from the final conversation between the men,
when it is revealed Owen killed the other soldier, hence he must be a soldier too).

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• It is also strange that these men are in hell because they fought and died for their countries –
mocking Ducle et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori (tis sweet and right to die for one’s country)

• Therefore, the message of this poem was to express the horrors of war on the battlefield and to
depict how war would bring about consequences for the world.

Structure

• Tone: Melancholy – as shown through the use of personification in the phrase, “sullen hall.” Sullen
literally means sad so it represents the sheer melancholy of the area Owen is in – asserting the
tone.

• Split into 5 stanzas, the first discusses Owen’s entry into a deep tunnel, the second is his
observations of those around him and his recounting of his encounter with a dead soldier,
revealing that they are in hell. The 3rd stanza is composed of a conversation between them, with
the majority of it coming from the enemy soldier regarding his life before and during the war. The
4th stanza describes his psychological problems induced by the war, the final stanza addresses
and clarifies the relationship between the 2 men, Owen is the man who killed this dead soldier.

• pararhymes are ubiquitous in this poem (such as the groined-groaned pararhyme), except in final
line – to add to the melancholy tone of the poem

Themes:

Horrors of war and how the wider world and soldiers suffer because of war

Exploration

1. How people, even those who are not soldiers, suffer because of war?

2. How are the mental injuries of the soldier, incurred because of the war, depicted?

LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS

It seemed that out of battle I escaped

• “It seemed,” – diction: use of the word seemed indicates a lack of assurance and certainly that
makes it clear to the readers that this poem is about a dream or hallucination

• “escaped,”- diction: denotes leaving something horrible behind, and this is used to explain the
how Owen despised the war, but when we find out that Owen’s character is in hell, it is very ironic
that hell is better than war

Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped

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• “profound,” diction: physically deep- allusion to hell being beneath the earth

• “long since scooped,” diction and alliteration: “long,” the tunnel has existed for a long time and
has been in used for a while, this sets the stage for the phrase, “titanic wars,”, as together it shows
that war has claimed lives throughout history, because we later discover that Owen is in hell.

Through granites which titanic wars had groined.

• “titanic wars,” diction: titanic alludes to the Titanic, a ship that crashed in April 1912 and killed
thousands when it happened, emphasising the number of people who die in war. It also alludes
to the Titans, the fathers of Gods in Greek mythology. These Titans had existed for eons and hence
this shows that wars have occurred over history, taking so many lives in the process.

• The pararhyme in the fist stanza shows Owen’s uncertainty as to where he is, the constant past
tense shows that he is recounting a dream

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,

• “encumbered sleepers,” diction: these sleepers are dead soldiers and the word, “encumbered,”
means to be trapped, literally by their equipment and figuratively by their burden of suffering
wrought upon them by the war, reinforcing the theme of the horrors of war, and stirring up
empathy in the public for the soldiers

Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.

• “in thought or death to be bestirred,” – the men are either dead or very deep in thought, hence
they do not respond to Owen’s presence.

Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared

• “sprang..stared.”- alliteration is used to assert how sudden this action was

With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,

Lifting distressful hands, as if to bless.

• “bless,” – religious imagery – used in a negative context here (sudden surprise that is horrifying
at the same time), to express Owen’s own dissatisfaction with the Church for preaching propaganda.

And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall,—

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• “smile…sullen hall,” – heroic rhyming couplet, to show how ironic it is that Owen is in hell despite
being a war hero

• “-“ – enjamblement: builds up suspense before Owen reveals that they are in hell

• “sullen hall,” – personification: adds to the melancholy tone of the text

By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.

• “hall-Hell,” – alliterative pararhyme reinforces the sullen mood of the poem.

• “dead smile,” – oxymoron: one cannot smile when one is dead, depicts the emptiness of the
soldier’soul

• “Hell,” – diction: soldiers went to hell, for punishment, because they killed. But this is what they
had to do in war, hence this illustrates how war alters their morality, so killing is right,
contradicting the perception of morals in the civilised world

With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained;

• Lack of iambic pentameter here to express Owen’s fear

• “thousand fears,” – imagery: represents impact the war has made on the dead soldier during his
lifetime, as he is haunted by his experience in war that Owen has described as having creating
“fears,” in him. This was likely induced by the horrors he had been exposed to. The word,
“thousand,” quantifies this impact, expressing the number of horrors he had been exposed to

• “grained,” – denotes being reduced to, hence soldier has lost identity has nothing but fear left,
punctuating the sombre tone of the poem while increasing the audience’s pity for the men who
suffer on the battlefield.

Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,

And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.

• “guns thumped,” – onomatopoeia to express the lack of noise induced by guns in hell, could
represent detachment from the mortal world. Also shows juxtaposes hell to war, in terms of the
noise, as the battlefronts were known to be extremely noisy with gunfire and the lot.

• “down the flues made moan,” – diction: shows that they no longer had to moan about cleaning
the flues of their guns, the bits that would hold the bullet after it had started moving, the inner
barrel essentially – lack of stress, juxtaposed to war situation

• This bit makes the point that war is worse than hell, a horrifying realisation in itself – makes the
horror war brings pellucid to the readers.

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“Strange friend,” I said, “here is no cause to mourn.”

• “strange friend,” – paradox: a friend is not unfamiliar to you (i.e strange), but this is so because
they had been enemies on the battlefront but both carry the familiar burden of pain gained from
their time on the battlefront – deepens audience’ understanding of how these 2 know each other
while shocking them as to how both sides who fought were encumbered by the horror of war,
adding to the theme of the horrors of war.

“None,” said that other, “save the undone years,

• “that other,” – lack of a name or title expresses how war steals the identity of soldiers away,
leaving nothing but consequences that war has wrought upon them – used by Owen to evoke
sympathy in readers with regards to the plight of the soldiers in war. Lack of identity is a running
theme in most Owen poems like Dulce, AFDY

The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,

Was my life also; I went hunting wild

After the wildest beauty in the world,

• “wildest beauty,”-metaphor: for the soldier’s motivation, his want to defeat the enemies of his
country (patriotism), allows audience to understand why the GY soldier chose to fight

Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,

• “eyes…braided hair,” – imagery that was associated with women: reinforces idea that the man
did not join the war because of pressure from women, but does bring up how women commonly
reinforced propaganda, encouraging their men to go to war. However, they ended up sending
them off to their deaths. The inclusion of this reference reminds the audience of the role women
played in propaganda, propagating a poor image of these women in the audience’s mind.

But mocks the steady running of the hour,

• “steady running of the hour,” – alludes to the passing of time as represented in an hour glass, like
an hour-glass running out of sand, by taking part in the war, he was wasting his time by fighting
in the war, and time was running out for him from that point on – sent him on a course to death
– expresses fatal consequences of war

• However, the hourglass bit could also allude to the idea figure of a woman, mocking how they
sent men to war but now they are crying over their deaths (through sand pouring down)

And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.

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• “grieves, grieves,” – repetition: this accentuates how war only results in grief and nothing else,
due to the huge amount of death it causes – convey the emotional impact of war on the soldiers’
relatives to the British public

For by my glee might many men have laughed,

• “glee – weeping,” – juxtaposition: used compare life with death,

• “glee might many men have laughed,” – explain how humourous the man was, as shown through
the use of the word, “laughed,” that expresses his ability to induce laughter. This stresses what
he has lost when he died, in the next line

And of my weeping something had been left,

• “weeping – laughed,” – juxtaposition: he made people laugh before now he makes them cry over
his death, loss of his life had an effect on those around him as well as on himself, conveying to the
audience that war does not only affect soldiers, it also affects their loved ones.

Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,

• “truth untold,”- the true nature of war, that is revealed in the next line, cannot be told and is a
secret, as shown through the use of untold which means to not tell. Represents how propaganda
lies about what the true nature of war is

The pity of war, the pity war distilled.

• This entire line shows how war, when “distilled,” is simply piteous, because of the suffering it
brings upon soldiers and its effect on humanity (see below)

• This is accentuated with the repetition of pity.

• This line has 9 syllables so it stands out like a lone island in the sea of iambic pentameter

Now men will go content with what we spoiled.

• “men will go content with what we spoiled,” – metaphors: men for men at home who did not
fight, we metaphor for government

Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.

• “discontent vs content,” – juxtaposition is used to highlight the rage felt if they lost

• Discontent is an abstract noun used to represent the dissatisfaction felt the soldiers if the war was
lost

• “boil bloody,” – alliteration: places stress on the rage the soldiers feel

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• “be spilled,” –allusion: to water spilling, this is a metaphor for how the government viewed the
soldiers’ deaths as (spilling water), an affordable waste, rallying anger towards the government in
the readers

They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress.

• “swift,”-diction: used to represent the speed at which the men could attack, explaining how they
have become killing machines, as asserted by its repetition in the form of swiftness

• “of the tigress,”-metaphor: directly compares the men to tigresses, natural killing machines and
are at the top of the food chain. It is interesting to note that the tigers only kill to survive, just as
the soldiers do – sympathy for soldiers due to the means they had to resort to in order to survive.

None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.

• “None will break ranks,”: phrase expresses camaraderie that soldiers had

• However, the hard k repetition mimics the sound of breaking, juxtaposing the previously
mentioned camaraderie

• “trek from progress,” –metaphor: metaphor for how through war, the world loses its humanity
and source of invention and innovation (progress), the trek (movement) away from these things.
Illustrates how war truly has horrific consequences for the entire world

Courage was mine, and I had mystery;

Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery:

To miss the march of this retreating world

• “retreating,” – diction: reinforces the idea behind trek from progress, that humanity furthers itself
from its own development and that we start to devolve as a species, consequence of war for all,
the inevitability of this is asserted in the next line.

Into vain citadels that are not walled.

• “vain citadels,” metaphor: for cities and towns. “Vain,” connotes uselessness, as all it has is looks.
“not walled,” – lacks a protective barrier, walls on a citadel were used for security, hence every
city is not safe, horrifying the general public by showing the effect war would have on the world.

Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels,

I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,

• “blood,” – (describes the soldier’s failure to remove his guilt from his body) metaphor: deaths,
“chariot wheels,” metaphor for brain, as brain thought to have cogs that were shaped similarly to
chariot wheels, “go up and wash them,” – metaphor: for cleansing the soul

• Overall summary: All the deaths that the man causes come back to him and fill his mind and he
must reach inner peace to ensure that guilt is gone. It is ironic because it was thought that one
could only cleanse the soul of huge amounts of guilt through deaths (go to next line)

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Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.

• Line alludes to Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimidations of Immortality,” where a near identical line is
used (line 208) – but it says too deep for tears. How some of the guilt cannot be released from
the soul through crying, an expression of emotion. This reinforces the morose theme of the poem
while inducing pity in the audience by depicting the plight of soldiers who fought in World War 1.

I would have poured my spirit without stint

But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.

BASED ON LAST 2 LINES

• Poured my spirit – metaphor: trying his hardest to help fight in the war, “without stint,” (without
limitation)

• “not through wounds (meaning death), not on the cess of war,” – (war has taken so much from
them) cess (diction) means tax, how the war has cost him so much by making him feel guilt and
remorse over his killings, making the audience pity them further, while revealing to them the cost
of war on soldiers.

• Man would have tried his hardest and put up a good fight, but not for the deaths he caused, the
cost of war for him.

Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.

• “Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were,”: (visually shows their mental suffering)
Foreheads of men is a metaphor for the minds of men, as the brain is located behind the forehead.
This metaphor therefore describes how men had no physical injuries but still had injuries, but of
the mind (forehead)- accentuates how the men suffered from mental conditions because of the
war, increasing the audience’s sympathy for the man

“I am the enemy you killed, my friend.

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• “my friend,” – synecdoche for all enemy soldiers, how in death, they(soldiers) are all equal,
alluding to Dante’s the Divine comedy where all were equal in hell

• clarifies relationship

I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned

• “Frowned,” diction: Owen’s own dissatisfaction for war

Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.

I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.

• “parried…loath,” parried means to have blocked, personification using loath describes hands that
are unwilling hence the man tried to block but he was unwilling to save his own life, because he wanted
to save his soul. He could not live wit the guilt he had incurred as a soldier during the war and hence
wanted to die

Let us sleep now. . . .”

• “sleep” – diction: indicates it’s a dream because sleep and dreams come hand in hand

This last bit is all monosyllabic, showing how these 2 are friends, as using single syllables was regarded as
an informal way of speaking, the way in which you might speak to your friends (if you have any)

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