By Wilfred Owen
 Was born in 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire.
 Educated at Birkenhead Institute and
London University.
 At aged 20 went to Bordeaux, France as tutor
to a French family.
 Volunteered for the army in 1915.
 Served on the Western front when trench
warfare and soldiers’ conditions were at
their worst.
 Was invalided out of the army in 1917, a
nervous and battle-shocked wreck.
 He recovered and returned to France with a
commission.
 He won a Military Cross and was killed on 4
November 1918, a week before the armistice.
 Owen is recognised as the greatest of the
war poets as he is truthful about the terrible
experience in a highly evocative poetic way.
His poetry shows great compassion for his
fellow soldiers.
 What does the title tell us about
what is happening?
 Who is it happening to?
 What do you think their feelings
are at leaving?
 How do those left behind feel?
 Why do people sing?
 Why do you think the soldiers sang as they
marched to the shed where they would
board the train for France and war?
 What does ‘close darkening lanes’ suggest?
Look at the different meanings of ‘close’ in a
dictionary and see why you think Owen
used that word. What might ‘darkening’ be
suggestive of given the war?
 If something is unmoved it means that it lacks
emotion.
 Look at how Owen uses personification to make the
signals and the lamp have human characteristics and
think about what he is trying to say about how the
soldiers are being shipped out to war, where they may
die, be maimed or be traumatised by their experiences.
 How does the ‘So secretly’ link with the previous two
line stanza with its ideas of conspiracy?
 Owen uses a simile to describe the soldiers. Why are
they ‘like wrongs hushed up’?
 Owen places ‘they went’ at the end of the line. Why
do you think he does that?
The people watching the soldiers go do not know
them. They do not care for them. The soldiers do not
belong there.
 Why is this simple short line so sad?
 Who is the narrator of the poem? How do you know?
If in doubt look further on in the poem (line 14).
 What is Owen trying to say in this blunt statement
about people’s responses to soldiers unknown to
them?
This statement seems to be made with casual
indifference. It is as if the woman does not care where
the soldiers went to or where they may have fought
and died because they are not ‘ours.’
 What is Owen trying to suggest about people’s
indifference to the deaths of those they do not know?
 Think about the difference in emotion you would feel
knowing a loved one – a beloved brother, uncle or
father- had died in comparison to hearing of the death
of a stranger from another part of England. Is Owen
being fair? Aren’t all humans programmed to care
more for their own family and friends than strangers?
 Why might the men ‘mock’ what the women meant by
giving them such funereal flowers?
 Is the woman herself questioning the wisdom of giving the
men such offerings? Why might she do this?
 The verb ‘shall’ is used in a way that indicates that the
future is not assured. The rhetorical question asks if the
soldiers will be heralded as heroes for their brave actions in
defending the country. What do you think?
 Owen contrasts the earlier verb ‘went’ in this section with
the verb ‘return.’ They left in full train carriages which were
‘lined’ with men but will they return in ‘wild train-loads’?
 Owen here uses noisy words such as ‘beatings,’ ‘bells’ and
‘wild.’ Why is this such a contrast with ‘hushed up’?
 Why does Owen repeat the word ‘few’ three times?
What point is he trying to make about the difference
between how many soldiers who left for war and how
many return?
 Why might the returned heroes expect ‘drums and
yells’ to cheer them on their return?
 What is Owen saying when he says they will not get
such a welcome?
The final line of the poem seems mysterious. Why are
the roads ‘half-known’?
 Is it because the soldiers don’t return home because
they are ashamed at surviving?
 Is it because those who are injured are sent to
recuperate?
 Is it because they went away such a long time ago and
have half-forgotten what home looks like after the
horrors they have seen?
 Or does it mean something else? What do you think?
 Why did Owen write this poem?
 Pick two techniques he has used in the poem and
explain why their use is effective. Be prepared to share
them.
 How does the poem make you feel about the way you
think about soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq
and Afghanistan now and whose deaths and injuries
are reported on the television and radio and in papers
and on-line?