Strange Meeting Cover Image

Strange Meeting

by Wilfred Owen

Start Free Trial

Student Question

What strong opinion does Wilfred Owen express in "Strange Meeting"?

Quick answer:

Wilfred Owen expresses a strong opinion in "Strange Meeting" that dying in battle leads to a hellish existence, yet this Hell is preferable to the battlefield due to the absence of bloodshed and gunfire. Owen portrays war as futile, rendering soldiers' deaths meaningless. The poem suggests that war transforms potential friends into enemies, emphasizing the senselessness of conflict. Ultimately, Owen conveys that in death, even in Hell, there is a possibility of rest and peace.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
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.

The strong option I think you are referring to in Wilfred Owen's First World War poem "Strange Meeting" is the option of dying in battle and entering Hell. To Owen, Hell would not only be the natural conclusion to his life as a soldier, but would be in many ways preferable to the battlefield. Hell, as he states, may have "a thousand fears that vision's face was grained," but here

no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
As the soldier states, in Hell they have nothing to mourn but hopelessness. To him, their deaths are meaningless. Men will either go
content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
He continues to say that he and the poem's speaker are one and the same. They both had hope for their futures, and they both wildly pursued beauty. It was the war that made them enemies.
The man finishes his speech by telling the speaker that he is the man whom the poet killed the previous day.
“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 hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now. . . .”
Though Hell is a horrible place, the dead still have the option of rest.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial