Futility

Cards (21)

  • "Was it for this the clay grew tall?"
    Rhetorical question and metaphor -
    🔹questions the point of life
    🔹owen raises highly philisophical and existential questions.
    🔹closely links with owens one questioning of meaning of life.
    🔹rhetorical questions posese eternal agony of "why?"
    🔹clay a metaphor for soldier growing into adolescent.
  • "Move him into the sun - Gently its touch awoke him"
    Personification
    🔹questions the point of life
    🔹not much to protect them in war
    🔹personification of the sun gives a maternal characteristic to the sun as "it's touch" is what brings life to the soldier.
  • "Always is woke him, even in France, until this morning and this snow"

    Repetition
    🔹questions the point of life
    🔹hope is lost
    🔹signifies soldiers death
    🔹the word "until" marks a change and finality.
    🔹repetition of "this" puts situation at present tense.
  • Futility
    Poetic focus
    🔹pointlessness of war
    🔹title directly defines poetic focus as word itself means pointlessness or uselessness.
    🔹sets the mood for the poem, suggesting a negative perception.
  • "At home, whispering of fields unsown"
    Personification, nostalgic reference, connotations of peace and safety release.
    🔹pointlessness of war
    🔹nostalgic reference to the location of the so,diets loved ones.
    🔹"home" brings sense of comfort and feeling of warmth which is ironic as the poem is about a soldier freezing to death.
    🔹whispering personifies sun which acts as a motif as a motherly symbol.
    🔹"unsown" is a metaphor for life not being fully lived.
    🔹Owen believes war is pointless and maybe even life is futile.
  • "-O what made fatuous sunbeams toil"
    Rhetorical question
    🔹pointlessness of war
    🔹fatuous is defined as silly and pointless, which suggests that Owen views war as silly and pointless itself.
    🔹Ne is questioning whether war is worth all of the hard work, for the result to end with death and loss of life.
    🔹"sunbeams" continues the sun motif.
  • "If anything might rouse him now the kind old sun will know"
    Personification
    🔹death is inevitable
    🔹the personification of the "kind old sun" knowing how to save the soldier, gives an affectionate characteristic to the sun.
    🔹"old" and "will know" suggest a quality so wisdom that brings hope.
  • "Woke, once, the clays of a cold star."

    Alliteration, biblical imagery/creative imagery.
    🔹death is inevitable
    🔹explains the Suns achievements in a more harsh and cold manner with the alliteration of the "c" sounds. "The clays of a cold star" is biblical imagery in reference to creation, in Genesis.
  • "Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides, full nerved - still warm - too hard to stir?"
    Rhetorical question
    🔹death is inevitable
    🔹poses the echoing question of "why?".
    🔹the despair hanging on every word of this rhetorical question represents the refusal to face the reality of this loss.
  • What does the title 'Strange Meeting' suggest about the poem's themes?
    The title 'Strange Meeting' implies an unexpected reunion between former enemies, highlighting the futility of war and its devastating impact on individuals.
  • What is the significance of "Strange Meeting"?
    The poem is significant for its unflinching portrayal of war's horrors, exploration of friendship and loss, and portrayal of psychological trauma, offering a nuanced exploration of war's consequences.
  • How does Owen use imagery in "Strange Meeting"?
    Owen masterfully employs sensory details, symbolism, metaphors, and alliterative devices to convey the brutality and psychological toll of war on soldiers in "Strange Meeting".
  • Was it for this the clay grew tall?
    •Owen creates a sense a bitterness, and evokes his disgust at the frivolous use of men at war. Not only is he questioning the deaths at war he is beginning to question the purpose of young men. Questions existential concepts.
  • Whispering of fields unsown'
    •Symbolises the wasted potential of the lost soldier.
  • Pysma
    •The use of pysma poses the eternal agony of why. These accumulate to highlight the questioning of not only the purpose of war, but also the purpose of life.
  • Move him into the sun'
    •The confronting weather situations, shows the lack of care. Was he meant to freeze in the middle of nowhere, for the sake of someone else's fight? The sun is depicted as a possible saviour and worker of miracles for this man. (Motif that runs throughout the poem, as hope fades so does reference to the sun).
  • To break earth's sleep at all?'

    •Is that why the soldiers are here to break earth's sleep and then die at battle. Any point for them being born?
    •The speaker bitterly asks why the sun bothers to break the darkness of night at all, when it cannot bring life to a body that is still warm, a body which once contained a life brought into this world with much love and attention.
  • Tone of the poem
    Owen is frustrated with the pointlessness of war. There is no victorious result besides death, only hatred and agony. The tone of the poem starts gentle, as it progresses it increases in intensity as the soldier fails to be roused.
  • The kind old sun will know'
    Creates a sense of desperation and futile hope. The sun is a visual metaphor for life and hope, both of which aren't provided on the battlefront.
  • Always it woke him until this morning and this snow'
    The conjunction of 'until' suggests the reality of the situation is becoming apparent.
    -personification
  • Woke once the clays of a cold star'

    Always having the tiniest amount of hope, the sun used to wake up anything, but now he doesn't see the sun anymore.