To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.
Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
As men's are, dead.
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
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
Who gave them flowers.
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 still village wells
Up half-known roads.
The send off is a poem based around a by-passers point of view, watching women and children saying their final farewells to fathers and partners, whom are going off to war. The title, "the send off", shows the concept of the whole poem. It also introduces the emotion because when people are leaving its a sad occasion, which people left do not know the final outcome- good or bad.
ReplyDeletegroup 7
Jenny, Nor, Tash, Alix, Issy and Bex!
The line, "A few, a few, too few for drums and yells," uses "few" three times emphasising the fact that only a few people came back compared the to the number of people who died.
ReplyDeleteJenny
The rhyming pattern in this poem is A B A, A B. The paragraphs were 3 lines then 2 lines then 3 lines, etc. In the poem there is also enjambement. For example,
ReplyDelete"Dull Porters watched them, and a casual tramp
Stood staring hard,"
This gives a bit of effect to the lines and gives more emphasis to the "stood staring hard."
Bex group 7 :)
This poem shows a considerable amount of emotion, as i believe it is mainly based around this concept. "Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray as men's are, dead" This quote reveals the underlying pain and fright of women parting from their partners. It also tells us that it could be the early morning sometime as the women are cold and lifeless- "white with wreath" Lines 19 and 20, "may creep back, silent, to village wells, Up half-known roads." This is describing the few men that survived the war, coming back to their homes. Although the words: "Up half-known roads" tells us that the war was so brutal and damaging that the streets and roads are no longer recognizable to those who once knew them so well. The poet, Wilfred Owen has used the words, "Creep" and "Silent" to describe the way the soldiers return. This therefore shows us that only few men return and there are so little that no sound is heard. Overall the emotion portrayed in this poem is very powerful and outlines the main purpose and meaning.
ReplyDeleteTash Beaumont. Group 7 :)
I have looked at the mood of the poem, and it seems that in each little paragraph it is slitely different. To begin with, the poem talks about how the men "sang their way" to the trains and so you get a feeling they are boosting moral and this is also shown when the writer says the soldiers faces are "grimly gay." so it is possible they are pretending to be happy.
ReplyDeleteThe second phrase shows how scared the women seem to be and the writer goes on to explain how people will "miss them" in paragraph three.
The next part, for me, is the most powerful because you can imagine the silence, "hushed-up", atmosphere as the train left the station and the seperated couples tried to fight back the tears. It then says that the women left behind "never heard" where thier loved ones were sent, and not knowing where they were let alone if they would come back must have been difficult.
The final part of the poem describes how "too few" men return home and how it is not cause to celebrate. The whole poem has a saddness throughout, but I think the final paragraph is meant to make you remember how upsetting the whole situation must have been.
Eleanor Group 7
We think that Wilfred Owen was watching these soldiers go but had no idea who they were. To him they were just a random group of soldiers who he had no connection to.
ReplyDeleteThe poem is all about the soldiers going off to war. all the staff train staff are watching them go and wondering if they will return in triumph, or even return at all.
There is an unusual rhyme scheme in this poem it's quite jerky and the lines are long then short then long etc. This gives it the effect of a train setting off.
This poem is very atmospheric and throughout the poem the emotion changes you can imagine the spectators standing there silently watching. We think that the last section is the most emotional and sad because they don't know if they will return and it seems like they are just putting brave faces on.
Group 2 !!! =)
Biography of Wilfred Owen.
ReplyDeleteWilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on the 18th March 1893, in Shropshire. his work was influenced by the cruelty and waste of the war. He became a teaching assistant after school and then went to france for two years as a language tutor. he wrote his first poems as a teenager.
He returned to England in 1915 and enlisted in the army. he was sent to the Manchester regiment and spent the rest of the year training in England. he was sent to fight in January 1917. After plenty of fighting he was diagnosed with shell-shock and sent back to England, he was placed in a hospital in Edinburgh. it was here that he met Siegfried Sassoon who agreed to look over his poems, he also introduced him to other poets like Robert Graves.
After speaking with Sassoon he revolutionized his style and conception of poetry. he returned to France in 1918 and was awarded the military Cross for bravery. However he died on the 11th november 1918 when he was attempting to lead his men across the Sambre canal in Ors. The news of his death reached his parents on armistice day which is the day when the war ended. We think this is very sad!!!
Group 2
x
jim
ReplyDelete