Strange Meeting Poem Questions and Answers & Summary

Poem 5 Strange Meeting Questions and Answers

Strange Meeting Poem Summary, Questions and Answers

Strange Meeting Poem Long Answer Questions

Question 1.
Write a critical appreciation of Strange Meeting.
Or
Question 2.
“The Poetry is in the pity Show how Owen has expressed the “pity of war” in his poem Strange Meeting.
Answer:
Strange Meeting is the grim account of Owen’s terrible experience in the First World War. Published in 1920 in a volume entitled Poems, two years after Owen’s death in 1918, the poem brings together two young, former, enemy-soldiers a British and a German one who meet, after they have died on the battle field. The German soldier however speaks at length of his earnest desire to live more and unveils the tragic futility of war.

The poem opens with the soldier-poet’s illusion that he has escaped out of the battlefield “down to some profound dull tunnel”, where in the midst of the corpse of warriors, one suddenly leaps up as he is “probed” by the soldier-poet. He continues staring at the soldier-poet with pitiful eyes and lifts up his hands as if to bless the soldier-poet.

By his grim smile on face, the soldier-poet realises that he has after all reached hell where silence reigns everywhere since the sound of battle field is no more audible. The soldier-poet observes the face of the dead soldier disfigured with fear and pains. He consoles the dead soldier saying that there is nothing to mourn for in hell.

The dead soldier begins his monologue bemoaning his early death. He says that had he survived more, he might have enjoyed life, chasing things that are beautiful. Such things are more sublime and subtler than the beautiful eyes and braided hairs of women and makes fun of time as it steadily passes by. What grieves his heart is that his life is cut short and hell offers no joy of aesthetic pursuit.

One can only enjoy eternal sleep in hell. Hence, the dead soldier laments that the truth of war now remains untold. The truth being massive death toll that war claims. Men will now continue fighting, either satisfied or dissatisfied with the results of the war. The dead soldier had both courage and wisdom to counsel the warriors against the horrors of war. He could have given up his life to heal the world of its evils but, would not have lost his precious life in foolish warfare.

Towards the end of the poem, the dead soldier reveals that he was the enemy who was killed by the soldier poet on the other day. He recognizes his slayer by the frown in his eyes. Yet, he addresses the British soldier his “friend” since after death what remains of an individual is only the human identity. In other words, we lose all other identities that separate us from others.

Owen here must be suggesting the barrier of narrow political boundary which the both German and the British soldier overcome after death. Hence, the enemy solider who ‘jabbed and killed’ the German soldier, can be safely called a ‘friend’.

Question 3.
Describe with close reference to the poem Strange Meeting the lament of the German solider
Answer:
The German soldier leaps up from among the heap of corpses, imagined to be dumped in hell. He then painfully lifts up his hands as if to bless the soldier poet though being killed by him. As the soldier poet counsels him not to mourn in hell, the German soldier continues speaking at length about the perilous effect of war on mankind. He says that he feels sad all because of his early death.

Had he survived more, he might have enjoyed life, chasing things that are beautiful and more sublime than the ephemeral beauty of women’s eyes and their braided locks of hair. Owen however lends a human touch as he explores the aesthetic sense of beauty in the German soldier. This however implies that soldiers are not without human feelings which Owen suggests in many of his poems.

However the German soldier also bemoans that if he lyre-have, at least he could have revealed the truth of war which nCVy remains untold. The truth being massive death toll that war claims. Men will now continue fighting, either satisfied or dissatisfied with restricts-of the-war The German soldier had both courage and wisdom to counsel the warriors against the horrors of war. He could have given up his life to heal the world of its evils but, would not have lost his precious life in foolish warfare.

As he is now helplessly inactive in hell, he welcomes the soldier poet as his “friend”. He reveals the soldier-poet that he was the enemy who was killed by the soldier-poet on the other day. He has recognized his slayer by the frown in his eyes. Yet, he addresses the British soldier his “friend” since after death what remains of an individual is only the human identity. In other words, we lose all other identities that separate us from others.

Owen here must be suggesting the barrier of narrow political boundary which the both German and the British soldier overcome after death. Hence, the enemy solider who ‘jabbed and killed the German soldier, can be safely called a ‘friend’. The German soldier invites him to sleep together as they are far removed from every animosity that humans promote against each other.

Strange Meeting Poem Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
What impression of the British soldier do you form based on your reading the poem.
Answer:
The British soldier is the first speaker of the poem. He bc9ino me poem-MTcr. This fancy of entering into a deep, dark tunnel where dead soldiers are huddled together.

As he pokes them, one of the dead soldiers suddenly leaps up and continues staring at the British soldier with pitiful eyes. The dead solider is a German warrior who painfully lifts up his hands as if to bless the British soldier.

By his grim smile, the British soldier realises that he is in hell. Silence reigns everywhere around since the sound of the battlefield is no more audible. The British soldier observes that the face of the German soldier is disfigured with fear and pains. He consoles the German soldier saying that there is nothing to mourn for in hell.

The German soldier, who is the second speaker of the poem, recognises the British soldier and welcomes him as his friend. He says that he was once the enemy of the British soldier and now his friend since after death what remains of an individual is only the human identity.

Hence, the British soldier who ‘jabbed and killed’ the German soldier in the battlefield is called a friend and both of them agrees sleeping eternally together as they are removed from every animosity that humans promote against each other.

Question 2.
What picture of hell is presented by Owen in his poem Strange Meeting.
Answer:
Hell isn’t described exhaustively like Milton in his Paradise Lost or Dante in his Inferno. Owen just lends a succinct picture of hell once the British soldier escapes out of the

Strange Meeting Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Question 1.
Who are the speakers in the poem Strange Meeting?
a. French and German soldiers
b. British and French soldiers
c. Indian and British soldiers
d. German and British soldiers
Answer:
d. German and British soldiers

Question 2.
Why is the meeting called strange?
a. Because it was not pre-planned
b. Because the meeting occurred in hell
c. Because the meeting occurred in heaven
d. Because the meeting occurred in dream
Answer:
b. Because the meeting occurred in hell

Question 3.
What did the British soldier say to the German soldier the moment he meets him?
a. He said that he killed the dead soldier last day
b. He said that he was surprised to see him in hell
c. He said that there is nothing to mourn for in hell
d. He said nothing
Answer:
c. He said that there is nothing to mourn for in hell

Question 4.
Why does the German soldier mourn in hell?
a. Because he couldn’t reach heaven
b. Because of his untimely death
c. Because he couldn’t kill the soldier poet before dying
d. Because hell is so unpleasant
Answer:
b. Because of his untimely death

Question 5.
What is the pity of war?
a. That war is an essential part of human civilization
b. That war kills young lives
c. That war is encouraged by politicians
d. That war encourages hatred among nations
Answer:
b. That war kills young lives

Question 6.
What did the German soldier want to tell mankind about war?
a. That war is necessary for ensuring peace
b. That there is no heroism associated with war
c. That war must be promoted for better future
d. That one must give up his life in war
Answer:
b. That there is no heroism associated with war

Question 7.
Why does the German soldier addresses the British soldier as his friend?
a. Because the British soldier helped him to reach hell
b. Because the British soldier saved his life
c. Because the British soldier woke him up in hell
d. Because both of them are dead and they have lost their identity of two different nations.
Answer:
d. Because both of them are dead and they have lost their identity of two different nations.

Question 8.
What does the German soldier ask the British soldier to do?
a. To go away from hell
b. To remain in hell
c. To sleep forever with him
d. To rejoice in hell
Answer:
c. To sleep forever with him

Question 9.
What is kind of poem is Owen’s Strange Meeting?
a. Heroic
b. Poem of friendship
c. Anti-war
d. Poem of love
Answer:
c. Anti-war

Strange Meeting Poem Summary

Strange Meeting Poem Introduction

Strange Meeting is an anti-war poem which records Owen’s grim experience of the First World War. The poem was written during the course of the World War I and was published in 1920, in a volume entitled Poems, two years after Owen’s death in 1918. The poem brings together two young enemy-soldiers – a British and a German who meet, after they have died on the battlefield. The German soldier speaks at length, his earnest desire to live and unveils the tragic futility of war.

Strange Meeting Poem Summary

The soldier-poet imagines that he has escaped from the battlefield into a deep, dark tunnel where dead soldiers are huddled together. As he pokes them, one of the dead soldiers leaps up and continues staring at the soldier-poet with pitiful eyes. He then painfully lifts up his hands as if to bless the soldier poet and by his grim smile, the soldier poet realises that he is in hell.

Silence reigns everywhere around since the sound of battlefield is no more audible. The soldier-poet observes the face of the dead soldier disfigured with fear and pains. He consoles the dead soldier saying that there is nothing to mourn for in hell.

The dead soldier bemoans for his early death. He says that had he survived more, he might have enjoyed life, chasing things that are beautiful. Such things are more sublime and subtler than the beautiful eyes and braided hairs of women and makes fun of time as it steadily passes by. What grieves his heart is that his life is cut short and hell offers no joy of aesthetic pursuit.

One can only enjoy eternal sleep in hell. Hence, the dead soldier bemoans that if he were alive, at least he could have revealed the truth of war which now remains untold. The truth being massive death toll that war claims. Men will now continue fighting, either satisfied or dissatisfied with the results of the war.The dead soldier had both courage and wisdom to counsel the warriors against the horrors of war. He could have given up his life to heal the world of its evils but, would not have lost his precious life in foolish warfare.

The dead soldier now reveals the soldier-poet that he was the enemy who was killed by the soldier poet on the other day. He has recognized his slayer by the frown in his eyes. Since he is killed, he now wants profound and undisturbed sleep. He also invites the soldier-poet to sleep with him as they are no more the enemy of each other.

Strange Meeting Poem Paraphrase

Lines 1 to 14:

The soldier-poet imagines that he has escaped from the battlefield into a deep, dark tunnel where dead soldiers are huddled together. As he pokes them, one of the dead soldiers suddenly leaps up and continues staring at the soldier-poet with-pitiful eyes.

He then lifts up his hands as if to bless the soldier poet and by his grim smile, the soldier poet realises that he is in hell. He notices that the face of the dead soldier is disfigured with fear and pains. He consoles the dead soldier saying that there is nothing to mourn for in hell.

Lines 15 to 39:

The dead soldier pow mourns for his early death. He says that had he survived more, he might have enjoyed life. Even he too had the desire for the beautiful things of life which was beyond physical something more sublime and subtler than the beautiful eyes and braided hairs of women. And what grieves his heart is that his life is cut short and hell offers no joy of aesthetic pursuit.

One can only enjoy eternal sleep in hell. Hence, the dead soldier bemoans that if he were alive, at least he could have revealed the truth of war which now remains untold. The truth being massive death toll that war claims.

Men will now continue fighting, either satisfied or dissatisfied with the results of the war.The dead soldier had both courage and wisdom to counsel the warriors against the horrors of war. He could have given up his life to heal the world of its evils but, would not have lost his precious life in foolish warfare.

Lines 40 to 44:

The dead soldier now reveals the soldier-poet that he was the enemy who was killed by the soldier poet on the other day. He has recognized his slayer by the frown in his eyes. Since he is killed, he now wants profound and undisturbed sleep. He also invites the soldier-poet to sleep with him as they are no more the enemy of each other

Strange Meeting Poem Annotations with Comments

Lines 1 to 14:

It seemed : It seemed that the entire episode of an experience in the dungeon hell came to the soldier-poet in a vision
out of battle : out of the battle-field
escaped : went out
profound : deep
dull : dark
tunnel : opening cut through a hill
long since scooped : dug out long before
granites : rocks of granite stone
titanic : terrible
titanic wars : devastating wars that the Titans waged against their children
groined : vaults
encumbered sleepers : dead soldiers huddled together
encumbered : crowded
groaned : made cries of pain in sleep
Too fast in thought : deeply absorbed in thought
death : senselessness
bestirred : woken up
probed : poked stared with
piteous eyes : stared with distressing signs in his looks lifting distressful
hands, as if to bless : raising his hand painfully as if to bless the soldier-poet
sullen hail : gloomy and dark tunnel
dead smile : smile with a mere grin
thousand pains : the face of the German soldier was marked with the lines of thousand sorrow
vision’s face : face of the figure seen in the vision
grained : lined
blood : bloodshed on the battle-field
thumped : boomed
flues : passages for smoke over chimney
no cause to mourn : no real cause for lamenting in hell (or after-life).

Comment:

Titanic : Titans are the children of Uranus and Gaes. They, often called the Elder Gods, were deities of the early Greeks. They represents either primitive forces of nature or abstract qualities. Titans were originally six males and six females.

Later writers also placed some of the children of Titans among the Titans. The Titans, with the exception of Oceanus, revolted against Uranus, disposed him, and made Coronos ruler of the world. The adjective Titanic therefore refers to some monstrous warfare. – From The Wordsworth Dictionary of Classical Allusion.

undone years : years of his life lie in total ruin in hell
hopelessness : despair
Whatever hope …. life also : The German soldier says that his life was full of hope like the soldier-poet’s
hunting : searching
wild : indefatigably
wildest beauty : most romantic beauty
which lies not calm in eyes : the beauty that he searched for did not lie in the serene eyes or the braided hair of a young girl.
mocks : outpaces
steady : slow and regular
running of the hour : passage of time But mocks the steady
running of the hour: This beauty is eternal if it grieves: If the beauty pursued
Is the cause of sorrow grieves ….. than here: If the beauty pursued is the cause of sorrow, it has greater cause to grieve in this world than it has here
glee: joy
many men have laughed: many people could have been made happy
weeping : mourning
And of my ….. left : sorrows that he suffered in the battlefield yet remains in the world
Which must die now : since he is dead, the sorrows will remain untold to the world
I mean the truth untold : the truth of war will remain untold to the world
Pity of war : the sense of pathos that a right view of the foolish waste of life warfare creates.

Lines 26 to 33:

Now men …. Spoiled : Now when the German soldier is dead and the truth of war remains untold, men will feel complacent with what they did in the war
Spoiled : plundered
boil bloody : rage and fret and grow red in the face
spilled : involved in blood shed, like boiling liquid
brimming over and spilled on the ground
swift : burning with the desire to kill. None will break ranks: no nation will dissolve its army and give up fighting
Treak: march away from
I had mystery : I gained deep insight into the mysteries of life

mystery : mystic knowledge of hiden truth
mastery : excellence
To miss : so that he could easily live apart from the erring world and wait for the opportune moment to come out and heal it by giving it the truths
retreating world : degeneration of civilization, day after day
citadels : forts
That walled : into the unprotected fortress.

Comment:

Into vain citadels that are not walled: Citadel is the symbol of civilization and the word ‘not walled’ means open to attack. Owen perhaps suggests that the civilization is under threat.

Lines 34 to 39:

blood : bloodshed in battlefield
clogged : obstructed
when…..their chariot-wheels : when nations have shed enough of blood and despaired of achieving any good out of hatred suspicion and warfare
I would go up : he would go forward
wash them : wash the wounds of nations
sweet wells : the truth about war
taints : stain
that taints : that cannot be corrupted by vicious doctrines of hate and warfare
I would…spirit : had he lived he would have given his life and soul
without stint : liberally
But not.., wounds : but no dying from the effects of wounds received warfare
cess: forced realization
Foreheads……wounds were : the innocent youth with clean foreheads, compelled to fight and are slaughtered merciless.

Comment:

Foreheads …….. wounds were: There ‘may be just a passing allusion in this line to the foreheads of Christ bleeding because of the crown of thorn thrust upon him:

Lines 40 to 44:

enemy : refers to the German-soldier
know : recognize, identified.
Dark : dark hell
frowned : looked gloomfly
through me : into face
jabbed : stabbed
parried : prevented
but my… cold: when the German soldier was killed by the soldier-poet. He could not defend himself, as he felt disinclined to give him counter-stroke and his hands were cold through exposure
Let us sleep now : The two soldiers now will not be any use to the world. They are dead forever. Hence, the German soldier asks the soldier-poet to enjoy sleep forever.

Comments:

Let us sleep now: The word “us” perhaps suggest that the soldier-poet too dead. I am the enemy you killed, my friend: ‘The two antithetical words ‘enemy and ‘friend suggest the difference between thed entity of a human being before and after death.

Before death, there might be some antagonism between the man of two different nations. But after death the Identity as a human being is larger than any other identity, Hence, the enemy who ‘jabbed and killed’ the German soldier can now safely be called a ‘friend’.

Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems Workbook Answers

Rhapsody Workbook Answers Poem 5 Strange Meeting

Poem 5 Strange Meeting

Rhapsody Workbook Answers Poem 5 Strange Meeting

Strange Meeting Poem Long Answer Questions

Question 1.
What is the theme of the poem “Strange Meeting”?
Answer:
The poem, “Strange Meeting” by Wilfred Owen shows us a shocking reality. It is our tendency to glorify war as we fail to see the brutality underneath. The poet, through this poem, tries to enfold the truth in front of us. Therefore, the central theme in “Strange Meeting” is the futility and horror of modern war.

There is no chivalry or honour, which the traditional poets found in war; instead, there is only suffering and death. Owen is attempting to inform the public of the horrors of trench war as seen by the common man in an effort to motivate this self-serving public into a front to force an end to World War I and to be aware enough not to allow another war to happen.

In this poem, Owen is not only lamenting the terrors his generation must face; he is also sadly prophesying future conflicts between nations. He is attempting to show the public the waste such conflicts create, but he realizes the futility no matter what the truth is nor how it is presented, there will always be those who will strive to go “Into vain citadels that are not walled.” It will be the common man who will pay the ultimate price for the conquest of nations.

Through “Strange Meeting” the poet urges the people to open up their eyes to see the brutality of war by removing the rose coloured glasses from their eyes. The pathetic condition of the German soldier, his agony and realisation about war is really horrifying.

His untimely death shows the futility of war. Therefore, it can be said that through this poem, the poet is actually sending us some life-lessons. He is urging people not to encourage war and warfare, instead work for peace.

Question 2.
What is the wildest beauty in the world which was sought after by the dead soldier?
Answer:
The dead soldier in Owen while speaking out his hopelessness proclaims that in his life he hunted for the wildest beauty – not the beauty of a woman but the magnificence and splendour of unbridled adventure and the joy and vivacity of companionship, either physical or spiritual.

The word ‘wild’ bring to the mind a concept of beauty which is romantic in nature and would be at the same time ecstatic and euphoric, exuberant and energetic. The soldier was romantic by heart but due to his premature death, he missed every good thing that he desired. The dead soldier is upset but he is helpless.

Question 3.
Explain: “I mean the truth untold / The pity of war, the pity war distilled.”
Answer:
In these words uttered by the dead soldier to the poet, the main theme and Owen’s central concern is evident. It has been Owen’s creed to proclaim to the world of the ‘old lie’: “dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori”. It is never sweet to die and he wants to reveal the truth which is never told by the war mongers – the pitiable situation that war unfolds – the death and permanent disability of fit and strong young men. Thus in these lines Owen presents his attitude to war-war is always a piteous and horrific spectacle, it can never be glorious and magnificent.

Question 4.
What is meant by ‘chariot wheels and how do they become “clogged’?
Answer:
The chariot wheels refer to the wheels of progress of various nations of the world which marched forward previously on ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. But now the scenario has changed completely and the leaders of the same nations are baying for the blood of others and trying to establish their military supremacy. The result is that young men are killed in the battlefield and their blood is clogging the chariot wheels of the nations, stopping any sort of progress.

Question 5.
Bring out the deep irony and sorrow expressed in the words “None …save the undone years”.
Answer:
The speaker here is the dead soldier in Owen’s poem whom he met in the underworld replying to the poet’s caustic comment that there was nothing to mourn in the underworld. The man replies in the affirmative, but then the sorrow comes along with deep irony – and biting sarcasm – he has no cause for sorrow except for all the years of his life that have been ruined. He has immense distress for all the years he would have lived but could not and feels totally hopeless in not being able to do anything about it.

Question 6.
Why is the meeting called strange?
Answer:
In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Strange Meeting”, the poet-persona speaks of a meeting between himself and a dead German soldier in a dark tunnel. In this tunnel, the poet-persona finds death and suffering around him. The pathetic condition of the soldiers triggers deep sorrow in mind.

The gloominess makes the poet-persona think that he is in Hell. This meeting is strange because in reality such a meeting between a living and a dead is not possible. Actually this meeting is arranged to reveal the truth underlying war, which is the theme of the poem. The conversation between the dead German soldier and the British soldier makes the readers understand the brutality of war. This meeting, though strange, is deeply significant and meaningful.

Strange Meeting Poem Short Questions

Question 1.
What is the ‘profound dull tunnel’ mentioned by the poet?
Answer:
The poem begins with the poet expressing his present state where he feels that he is in a deep underground tunnel, using which he has escaped from the battlefield. It is a dark, deep, gloomy chamber where he meets men who are either asleep or dead and can be considered to be Hell.

Question 2.
Why is the dark tunnel categorised as “Hell”?
Answer:
There were dead and severely injured people in the dull tunnel. The poet-persona was experiencing pain, suffering, loss and death around him. Therefore the atmosphere was gloomy. There was no ray of hope or glimmer of happiness and that is why the dark tunnel is categorised as “Hell”.

Question 3.
What does Owen mean by ‘mystery’ and ‘mastery’?
Answer:
In his anti-war poem ‘Strange Meeting’, by ‘mystery’ Owen implies the mystery of war, the unknown knowledge about war, that it is never a glorious affair. And by using the word ‘mastery’ Owen implies a commanding and commendable reporting about the truth or reality of war.

Question 4.
What did the young solider say to his strange friend in hell?
Answer:
The young soldier who dreamed that he had gone to hell and met a dead soldier said to the latter that there were causes to mourn there. There are no bloodshed and no fear of roar of guns in hell.

Question 5.
Why was the dead soldier unhappy?
Answer:
The dead soldier faced a premature death while fighting in a battlefield. At this, he lost all his opportunities to live his life to the fullest and fulfil his desires. He had a long list of wishes which turned futile as soon as he faced his death. He could not even enfold the truths about war to the common people who glorified war. That is why he was unhappy.

Question 6.
“Foreheads of men have bled where no wound were”- Elucidate.
Answer:
The soldier expressed here how the series of damages and destructions that war used to create. Soldiers used to get injured both mentally and physically which was not at all appreciated. Even if, there was no visible wounds, “…foreheads of men have bled…”. Fighting in wars and spilling of blood made the soldiers utterly disturbed.

Question 7.
“…And if it grieves, richlier than here.”- Elucidate with reference to the context.
Answer:
The smile on his face and his sad looks in his eyes made the poet-persona understand that the soldier had a lot of agony hidden in his mind. Even though that German soldier did not have any sign of blood on his body yet it was cleared that he had suffered terribly.

Addressing him “strange friend”, the speaker tried to console him saying, “…here is no cause to mourn.” No sound of guns were heard and there was no commotion either but in spite of the speaker’s moral support, that soldier felt sad for wasting so many years in fighting battles.

He said further, that when he was alive, he went “hunting wild/After the wildest beauty in the world.” Though this kind of beauty can cause grief but to him, that type of grief had its own beauty. Through his talks, it was clear that the soldier was romantic in nature who had died sometime back.

Strange Meeting Poem Logic-Based Questions

Question 1.
In this poem, the poet celebrates the anti-war attitude because
Answer:
The poet hates the brutality and futility of war.

Question 2.
The poet-persona faces a dreamlike situation which turns out to be a nightmare because
Answer:
He realizes some hardcore truth about war while talking with a death soldier.

Question 3.
The German soldier had a “dead smile” because …………..
Answer:
He was actually a dead soldier.

Question 4.
The people in the tunnel were seemed to be in a lot of pain because
Answer:
They suffered much in the battles, some were terribly injured and some were dead.

Question 5.
The dead soldier mourned because ………..
Answer:
He had faced a premature death while fighting in battles.

Question 6.
The dead soldier wanted to be alive again because
Answer:
He wanted to make people aware about the brutality of war and also wanted to fulfil his unfulfilled desires.

Question 7.
The meeting in the dull tunnel is shown to take place in Hell because
Answer:
There were suffering, misery and death around them.

Question 8.
The dead soldier could not make people laugh and enjoy because
Answer:
He faced a premature death while fighting in a battlefield.

Question 9.
“Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were” because
Answer:
The soldiers were not only physically but also mentally wounded.

Question 10.
The dead soldier addressed the poet-persona as “my friend” because
Answer:
He was the one who killed him in the battlefield.

Strange Meeting Poem About the Poet Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen Born into a middle-class family in 1893 near Oswestry, Shropshire, Owen was the eldest of three. His father, Tom Owen, was a railway clerk and his mother, Susan, was from a fervently religious family. After another move in 1906, he continued his studies at the technical school in Shrewsbury. Interested in the arts at a young age, Owen began writing poetry as a teenager.

In 1911 Owen matriculated at London University, but after failing to receive a scholarship, he spent a year as a lay assistant to a vicar in Oxfordshire. In 1913 he went on to teach in France at the Berlitz School of English, where he met the poet M. Laurent Tailhade. In 1915, he enlisted in the army and in December 1916 was sent to France, joining the 2nd Manchester Regiment on the Somme.

Within two weeks of his arrival he was commanding a platoon on the front line. In the midst of heavy gunfire, he waded for miles through trenches two feet deep in water with the constant threat of gas attacks. The brutal reality of war had a profound effect on him, as he recounted in letters to his mother. His poems ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Exposure’ record specific ordeals of this time.

He was wounded in combat in 1917 and, diagnosed with shell shock, was evacuated to Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh. There he met another patient, poet Siegfried Sassoon, who served as a mentor and introduced him to well-known literary figures such as Robert Graves and H. G. Wells.

It was at this time Owen wrote many of his most important poems, including “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and “Dulcet.” His poetry often graphically illustrated the horrors of warfare, the physical landscapes that surrounded him, and the human body in relation to those landscapes. His verses stand in stark contrast to the patriotic poems of war written by earlier poets of Great Britain, such as Rupert Brooke. A gay man, Owen also often celebrated male beauty and comradery in his poems.

Owen rejoined his regiment in Scarborough in June 1918, and in August, he returned to France. In October he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at Amiens. He was killed on November 4, 1918, while attempting to lead his men across the Sambre-Oise canal at Ors. He was 25 years old. The news reached his parents on November 11, Armistice Day.

While few of Owen’s poems appeared in print during his lifetime, the collected Poems of Wilfred Owen, with an introduction by Sassoon, was published in December 1920. Owen has since become one of the most admired poets of World War I. Areview of Owen’s poems published on December 29,1920, just two years after his death, read, “Others have shown the disenchantment of war, have unlegended the roselight and romance of it, but none with such compassion for the disenchanted nor such sternly just and justly stern judgment on the idyllisers.”

About Owen’s post-war audience, the writer Geoff Dyer said, “To a nation stunned by grief, the prophetic lag of posthumous publication made it seem that Owen was speaking from the other side of the grave. Memorials were one sign of the shadow cast by the dead over England in the twenties; another was a surge of interest in spiritualism. Owen was the medium through whom the missing spoke.”

In September 1918, Owen returned to the front during the final stages of the war. He fought a fierce battle and was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery. He was killed, at the age of 25, while leading his men across the Sambre and Oise Canal near Ors, on 4 November – just one week before the Armistice was declared.

Virtually unknown as a poet in his lifetime, most of Owen’s poems were published after his death. Aware that his work could do nothing to help his own generation, he succeeded in warning the next, his poetic legacy having a major impact on attitudes to war.

Strange Meeting About the Poem

The poem, “Strange Meeting” deals with the brutality of World War I. In this poem, the poet-persona imagines himself to be strayed from the battlefield and he sees into a dark tunnel where the sleepers (i.e. dead men) are huddled together. When the poet comes to watch those men closely, one of the dead men jumps up and looks at him with eyes full of pity and sorrow.

That dead soldier smiles and by that smile the poet comes to know that he is in hell. It seems that the dead man is in pain, though he has actually no cause for sufferings, for he is far away from the battlefield, the only place where men are left to suffer and die. This imagined meeting between the poet-persona and that German soldier is very much significant as it is same German soldier whom he had killed the previous day.

This dead soldier shows us the honors of war. He expresses that in his life-time he loved beauty and hoped to live his life like other men. What grieves him is the fact that his premature death has deprived him the joy of living his life to the fullest.

Moreover, the truth that he has leant in the battlefield will ever remain untold because of his death. This truth is the pity of war. That dead soldier tells the poet-persona that if he has been alive, he would have told the people that their ideals about war are all false and by killing him, the poet-persona has stopped him from performing such a noble act. Thus the futility of war is highlighted in this poem where the dark sides of war are portrayed. War is not glorified here, it is portrayed as a shameful act.

Strange Meeting The Tryst Poem in Detail

The poem “Strange Meeting” is one of the finest creations of Wilfred Owen where he showed the brutality and futility of war. People used to have a fine idea about war that was; it would prove how brave and chivalrous a soldier would be if he fought a battle because they used to see war through rose coloured glasses. Owen removed those glasses and showed reality to the readers through this poem.

The poem opens up with an imaginary situation where a British soldier or the poet-persona found himself in a dark tunnel dug through the granites. He saw. many soldiers were lying there, sleeping, crying in pain. They were suffering terribly. Suddenly, one of them stood up. He had pathetic looks in his eyes and he had a “dead smile.” That soldier as actually a German soldier who started chatting with the poet- persona.

He told him that he was not allowed to live his life to the fullest and that was something to mourn for. He told him that he wasted his time in many worldly pursuits. He went “hunting wild/After the wildest beauty in the world.” Actually, he looked for a beautiful, passionate woman as, to him, beauty lied in wild passion. Though this kind of beauty can cause grief but to him, that grief had its own beauty.

Through his talks, it was clear that the soldier had died sometime back. He regretted, telling that if he had not met with an untimely death, he could have make people laugh and make them enjoy their time with him. He lamented for his inability to disclose the horrors of war to the people. He felt sorry about the very fact that war used to take away several lives, but people had a tendency to glorify it as they would never understand the perturbation and violence that war used to create along with the mental and physical suffering.

The dead soldier exclaimed further, that when he was alive, he used to have ideals about war but after witnessing the truth, he had found those ideals fake. He wished that if he would have given a chance to be alive, he would like to work for peace as he would never indulge in any war to kill innocent people. In the last stanza of the poem, the dead soldier disclosed a shocking reality to the British soldier.

Addressing him “my friend”, he told him, “I am the enemy you killed.” This is the turning point of the poem. He recalled how that British soldier, “jabbed and killed” him. Though he “parried” , his hands “were loath and cold.” At the end, the dead German soldier suggested the British soldier that they should be allowed to sleep then and thus the poem ended on a depressing note.

Strange Meeting Poem Line Wise Explanation

“It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Though granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, 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.”

In the beginning of the poem, we see the poet-persona, a British soldier, was experiencing a kind of nightmare where he found himself in a dark tunnel. It seemed he had escaped a battle. That tunnel was dug through the granites. He saw, many soldiers were lying there, sleeping, crying in pain. They were suffering terribly. Suddenly, one of them stood up. He had pathetic looks in his eyes and he had a “dead smile.” There might be a possibility that the soldier had recognised the poet-persona. He was a German soldier. He lifted his hand to the poet-persona that seemed that he was blessing him.

“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 case to mourn.”
“None,” said that other, “Save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running if the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.”

That smile on his face and his sad looks in his eyes made the poet-persona understand that he had a lot of agony hidden in his mind. Even though that German soldier did not have any sign of blood on his body yet it was cleared that he had suffered terribly. Addressing him “strange friend”, the speaker tried to console him saying, “…here is no cause to mourn.”

No sound of guns were heard and there was no commotion either but in spite of the speaker’s moral support, that soldier felt sad for wasting so many years in fighting battles. He said further, that when he was alive, he went “hunting wild/After the wildest beauty in the world.” Though this kind of beauty can cause grief but to him, that grief had its own beauty. Through his talks, it was clear that the soldier had died sometime back.

“For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the trugh untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
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.”

He regrets further by saying that if he had not died, he could have make people laugh and enjoy. Being alive would give him chances to enfold the truth about wars to everyone. He felt sad that war brutally used to snatch away many innocent lives and to him, it was a huge loss and in the absence of awareness, people would keep on glorifying war as they would not realize the perturbation and violence that war used to create along with the mental and physical suffering. Soldier would not stop fighting even though “nations trek from progress.”

“Courage was mine, and I had mystery;
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- whells, 
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
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.”

When that soldier was alive, he had enough courage for “mystery” apd had enough wisdom to have “mastery” but when he was dead, his ideals about war were shattered. He found his ideals to be meaningless and so he said that if he had been alive, he would now spend his time in working for peace. He would not indulge in any war and would not take any life.

“Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.
“I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hand were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now…..”

The soldier expressed here how the series of damages and destructions that war used to create. Soldiers used to get injured both mentally and physically which was not at all appreciated. Even if, there was no visible wounds, “…foreheads of men have bled…”. Lastly, at the end of the poem, the dead soldier disclosed a shocking reality to the British soldier. Addressing him “my friend”, he told him, “I am the enemy you killed.”

This is the turning point of the poem. He recalled how that British soldier, “jabbed and killed” him. Though he “parried”, his hands “were loath and cold.” At the end, the dead German soldier suggested the British soldier that they should be allowed to sleep then and thus the poem ended on a depressing note.

Strange Meeting Poem Theme

The poem, “Strange. Meeting” by Wilfred Owen shows us a shocking reality. It is our tendency to glorify war as we fail to see the brutality underneath. The poet, through this poem, tries to enfold the truth in front of us. Therefore, the central theme in “Strange Meeting” is the futility and horror of modem war.

There is no chivalry or honour, which the traditional poets found in war; instead, there is only suffering and death. Owen is attempting to inform the public of the horrors of trench war as seen by the common man in an effort to motivate this self-serving public into a front to force an end to World War I and to be aware enough not to allow another war to happen.

“Strange Meeting” was the end result of a metamorphosis undergone by Owen and other World War I soldier-poets. They went through many changes as their exposure to the war and trench life increased. Initially they wrote patriotic verse, designed to help build a united front opposing the aggressions of Germany. This quickly changed as they began to realize the grim realities and arbitrariness of war.

As their frustrations grew, they lashed out at those they saw as either profiting from the war or misguidedly supporting it. Their final stage reflects the sadness and waste of any war at any time no matter what side the combatants and populace are on. Owen was no exception; “Strange Meeting” is perhaps his most poignant poem and strongest antiwar work, crowning his short list of achievements.

Owen is not only lamenting the terrors his generation must face; he is also sadly prophesying future conflicts between nations. He is attempting to show the public the waste such conflicts create, but he realizes the futility – no matter what the truth is nor how it is presented, there will always be those who will strive to go “Into vain citadels that are not walled.” It will be the common man who will pay the ultimate price for the conquest of nations.

Through “Strange Meeting” the poet urges the people to open up their eyes to see the brutality of war by removing the rose coloured glasses from their eyes. The pathetic condition of the German soldier, his agony and realisation about war is really horrifying. His untimely death shows the futility of war. Therefore, it can be said that through this poem, the poet is actually sending us some life-lessons. He is urging people not to encourage war and warfare, instead work for peace.

Strange Meeting Poem Word Meaning

Escape — To get free from something or to avoid something
Profound — Felt or experienced very strongly or in an extreme way
Tunnel — A long passage under or through the ground. especially one made by people
Titanic wars — Very huge wars
Encumbered — Prevented from making quick progress by having to carry heavy objects or deal
with important duties and responsibilities Piteous Causing you to feel sadness and sympathy
Bestirred — Moved
Fear — An unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen
Thumped — To hit something and cause a noise
Flue — A pipe that leads from a fire or heater to the outside of a building, taking smoke, gases, or hot air away
Hopelessness — The feeling or state of being without hope
Hunting — Chasing and killing an animal or bird for food, sport
Braid — A thin strip of cloth or twisted threads that is attached to clothes, uniforms, or other things made of cloth, as a decoration
Grieve — To feel or express great sadness, especially when someone dies
Weeping — The act of crying tears
Discontent — A feeling of wanting better treatment or an improved situation
Swift — Happening or moving quickly or within a short time, especially in a smooth and easy way
Mystery — Something strange or not known that has not yet been explained or understood
Mastery — Complete control of something
Citadels — A strong castle in or near a city, where people can shelter from danger, especially during a war

Strange Meeting Poem Critical Appreciation

“Strange Meeting” was written by Wilfred Owen in 1918 during the World War I. He was a soldier too who eventually faced his premature death in the battlefield. When Owen came to realize the bloody truth of war and warfare, he started writing poems that could express him anti-war attitude. “Strange Meeting” is undoubtedly his one of the most moving poem and most powerful anti-war work, crowning his brief career.

Owen, paradoxically, began composing poetry in the romantic tradition, with Keats and Shelley as his models. Owen may have written better poetry if he had a Romantic sensibility, but circumstances dictated otherwise. The war provided Owen with the subject matter, transforming his early poems’ romantic elegiac tendency into the deep feelings of sadness and compassion that define his later works.

The theme of the strange meeting is the futility of the troops’ sacrifice. It is, in fact, a poem about a visionary dream. The poet soldier imagines himself to have fled from battle and travelled to other parts of the world. As he continues to observe the bodies, one emerges with pitiful recognition in frozen eyes.

The second man, who has a cadaverous appearance and is actually an enemy soldier, describes the horrors and frustrations of battle. He laments the fact that death took him away before he could pass on the information he had gained – the untold truth – the harsh experience on the battlefield – the pity war distilled. He also speaks out against the abstract and unjustified glorification of war. An antagonist in life becomes a friendly comrade in the land of the dead, and finally, after revealing his name, he bids a friend to join.

Strange Meeting is the most forceful of Owen’s imaginative descriptions of battle experience. It is his best poem, striking in its sharpness and brevity, that has earned him a “passport to immortality.” War is a form of organised savagery. Men are retreating from material growth and civilization as a result of war. The poem undoubtedly emphasises the miseries of war.

It is also to determine timeless truths of love, amity, and goodwill. Nonetheless, his options are thrown into disarray due to the abrupt end of life. The poem Strange Meeting is an imaginary re-enactment of a supposed occurring after death or possibly a process in the imagination of a live man after death. It is an enraging experience.

The dead man in Strange Meeting, on the other hand, is dissatisfied with the manner of his demise. Sacrificing one’s life for the sake of others is a noble deed, but glorifying war is both abstract and worthless.

The theme of universal friendliness, which Owen has consistently advocated, appears to be reserved for the world of death when antagonists become friends and engage in an open discussion of their concerns. The theme of “insensibility” is also portrayed in this poem. The horrors of war and the merciless killing make the readers visualize the pathetic condition of the soldiers. The emotional impact of the poem, does not fail to bring tears in our eyes.

Strange Meeting Poem Style

In “Strange Meeting”, the poet has used a dreamlike situation which can be considered as a nightmare. The poem has 44 lines, four stanzas and is composed by using iambic pentameter with rhymed couplets. The readers can also sense supernatural elements in this poem through the words “Hell”, “chariot wheels”, “dead smile” etc.

Some Biblical allusions and metaphors are also used in this poem. The futility of war are expressed through “vain citadels”, “clogged in the wheel” etc. Some eerie sense could be also witnessed while going through the poem.

Strange Meeting Poem MCQs

Choose the correct alternative to complete the following sentences:

Question 1.
Where does the soldier in “Strange Meeting”‘ find himself?
a. At home
b. In Hell
c. In purgatory
d. In Heaven
Answer:
b. In Hell

Question 2.
In “Strange Meeting”, what does the soldier see that leads him to believe he is in hell?
a. The dead man’s legs
b. The dead man’s eyes
c. The dead man’s smile
d. The dead man’s arms
Answer:
c. The dead man’s smile

Question 3.
The dead man in “Strange Meeting”’ wants to-
a. Go back to his family
b. Get back to the battlefield
c. Go to heaven
d. Tell the truth about war
Answer:
d. Tell the truth about war

Question 4.
What was the poet-persona?
a. A German soldier
b. A British soldier
c. A pedestrian
d. An artist
Answer:
a. A German soldier

Question 5.
What does the dead man in “Strange Meeting” want to do at the very end?
a. Kill the soldier
b. Sleep
c. Return to earth
d. Talk more
Answer:
b. Sleep

Question 6.
What does the dead man in “Strange Meeting” used to possess?
a. Religion
b. Money
c. Courage and wisdom
d. Good looks
Answer:
c. Courage and wisdom

Question 7.
Why was the meeting strange?
a. It happened in a dark tunnel
b. It there were dead and injured soldiers around
c. The poet-persona was having a chat with a dead soldier
d. All of these
Answer:
d. All of these

Question 8.
What does the dead man in “Strange Meeting” want to do at the very end?
a. Sleep
b. Talk more
c. Return to earth
d. Kill the soldier
Answer:
a. Sleep

Question 9.
“Strange Meeting” is written in the form of a dialogue between two-
a. Officers
b. Soldiers
c. Couple
d. Ministers
Answer:
b. Soldiers

Question 10.
Which imagined landscape is referred in “Strange Meeting”?
a. Battlefield
b. Paradise
c. Hell
d. Heaven
Answer:
c. Hell

Question 11.
What do the two soldiers reflect in “Strange Meeting”?
a. Success
b. Aspirations
c. Power
d. Humanity
Answer:
d. Humanity

Question 12.
Why did the soldier in “Strange Meeting” lament?
a. He couldn’t tell the futility of war
b. He couldn’t fight again
c. He couldn’t oppose officers
d. He lost his confidence
Answer:
a. He couldn’t tell the futility of war

Question 13.
In which year “Strange Meeting” was published?
a. 1920
b. 1918
c. 1919
d. 1925
Answer:
c. 1919

Question 14.
What message does the dead soldier want to convey to mankind?
a. Support war
b. Not to encourage war
c. Futility/pity/horror of war
d. Both (b) and (c)
Answer:
d. Both (b) and (c)

Question 15.
Who is the speaker of the poem “Strange Meeting”?
a. A dead captain
b. Immortal soldier
c. A dead soldier
d. A dead navy officer
Answer:
c. A dead soldier

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