Literature B2 Units

The Send-Off by Wilfred Owen

ABOUT THE POEM
The Send-Off describes a group of soldiers leaving for the war. They are going to travel by train, and the poem describes their walk
to the station and their departure. As the train leaves, the narrator wonders if they will come back, but concludes that not many will
return. The poem is written in a simple style; it is divided into four stanzas of groups of two and three lines. Unlike many of Owen’s
war poems, it is set in England.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire, in England, in 1893. He was educated at London University, and always had
ambitions to become a poet. In 1915, he enlisted in the army and was sent to the Front in January 1917. The fighting
there was fierce, and Owen became ill after many months living in the terrible conditions in the trenches. Diagnosed with
shell-shock, he was sent to a military hospital near Edinburgh, in Scotland. There, he met the poet Siegfried Sassoon,
who encouraged Owen to write about his experiences and helped him develop his writing. Owen was killed in 1918. His
friend, Sassoon, collected and published his poems in 1920. Owen is recognised as one of the leading poets of the First
World War.

Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way
To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.
Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
5 As men’s are, dead.
Shall they return to beatings of great bells
In wild trainloads?
A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,
May creep back, silent, to village wells
20 Up half-known roads.

Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp

Stood staring hard,
Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.
Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp
10 Winked to the guard.

So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.

They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent.

Nor there if they yet mock what women meant

15 Who gave them flowers.

A VOCABULARY FOCUS
darkening (line 1): becoming darker
siding-shed (line 2): a building where trains are housed
grim (line 3): serious and unfriendly
gay (line 3): cheerful
wreath (line 4): a circle of flowers that you put on a grave to show that you are remembering a dead person
spray (line 4): a small bunch of flowers
tramp (line 6): a negative word for a homeless person
camp (line 8): a place with tents
wink (line 10): to quickly close and open one eye as a sign to someone; for example, a sign that what you have just said
is a joke or a secret
hushed-up (line 11): not spoken about, to try and prevent people knowing about it
creep (line 19): to move quietly and slowly
well (line 19): a deep hole in the ground that provides a supply of water

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 Literature
The Send-Off by Wilfred Owen
Before reading
1 You are going to read a poem by Wilfred Owen
called The Send-Off. What do you think a ‘send-
off’ is? Do you think the mood of a send-off is
usually happy or sad?
2 Read About the author. Work in pairs and discuss
these questions.
1 Some of Owen’s other poems have these titles: The
Dead-Beat, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility.
What do you think these poems might be about?
2 What do you think were Owen’s views about the war
he was fighting in?
3 What do you think The Send-Off will say about the
war?
3 Read About the poem. In the same pairs, discuss
whether you have changed your mind about your
ideas in exercise 2 of what the poem will say
about the war.
While reading
1 Read the poem. Number sentences a–f in the
same order as the events in the poem.
a We don’t know if the soldiers will come back.
b The narrator describes how they leave.
c The soldiers are making their way to the station.
d The narrator imagines how they might return.
e People at the station see them off.
f We don’t know where the soldiers went.
2 Read the poem again and answer the questions.
1 What is the soldiers’ mood? Why are their faces
‘grimly gay’?
2 What are the soldiers wearing? Why? What do they
remind the narrator of?
3 Who is at the station to watch them leave?
4 What is the meaning of ‘hushed-up’? Why do the
soldiers leave in this way?
5 Why did the women give the men flowers? Why
would the men at the front ‘mock’ this?
6 Who does the narrator think will return from the war?
How will they return?
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B2 Units
3 Find these words and phrases in the poem. What
do they refer to? How do they contribute to the
overall feeling of foreboding, anger and sadness
in the poem?
1 close, darkening
2 as men’s are, dead
3 dull porters ... staring hard
4 unmoved ... nodded ... winked
5 They were not ours
6 beatings of great bells ... drums
and yells
7 half-known
4 Do you think the poem is supportive of the war or
anti-war? Why?
After reading
1 Work in pairs. Who is Owen critical of in the
poem? How does he convey this? Think about:
■ the soldiers
■ the local people
■ the women.
2 The language of the poem is simple and it has a
simple structure and rhyme scheme. Look back
at the poem and find examples of the following
poetic devices. What is the effect of each one?
■ imagery (description, pictures, colours, sounds)
■ alliteration (repetition of sounds)
■ personification (giving objects human qualities)
3 Work in pairs. You are going to write a poem
about something you are critical of. Choose from
the ideas below or use your own idea.
war • poverty • pollution • harm to the environment
1 Decide how you will structure your poem and convey
your ideas.
2 Write your poem. Try to use some of the poetic
devices in exercise 2.
3 Read your poem to the class.
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