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The Send Off (Poem) Notes
The Send Off (Poem) Notes
MIDDLE SECTION
I. Word meanings:
1. wreath - an arrangement of flowers, leaves, or stems fastened in a ring and used for
decoration or for laying on a grave.
2. upland - high land especially at some distance from the sea
3. darkening- to grow dark, become obscured.
4. hushed up - to prevent something from becoming known
5. trainloads - full freight or passenger capacity of a railroad train
II. Antonyms:
1. staring X ignoring
2. gay X sad
3. mock X praise
4. return X depart
5. casual X formal
Ans: The above extract is taken from the poem The Send- off by Wilfred Owen. The
soldiers on their way to the battle field who were given bouquets of flowers as part of
their send –off are being described here. The white wreaths and spray suggest that
these soldiers are as good as dead. Their days are numbered and their destiny already
etched out. The flowers seem to be like wreaths that will be placed on their coffins.
b. What does the poet say immediately after this to reinforce the image?
Ans:The poet uses the expression “as men’s are, dead” immediately after, to
reinforce the fact that the soldiers who are being send off to the war front will never
come home.
1. Why are the signals unmoved? Why does this word suggest insensitivity?
Ans: The above extract is taken from the poem The Send- off by Wilfred Owen.
The signals are unmoved by the plight of the soldiers. If they felt any sympathy then the
signals would not change to allow the train to embark on its journey, taking along
hundreds of young, vibrant lives who will fill up the ranks at the front. If the signal had
been more sensitive it would have acted otherwise according to the poet.
2. Which are the two words that suggest conspiracy here? What is the poet suggesting
here?
Ans: The words “nodded” and “winked” suggest conspiracy in the above lines. The poet
suggests that the lamp and signals are part of the conspiracy that sends young men to
the battlefield knowing only too well the fate that awaits them.
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8. What do you think the poet means by ‘They were not ours’? What conclusion can we
draw from this expression?
Ans: The line "they were not ours" reflects the profound impact of war on the soldiers
and the sense of detachment, loss, and dehumanization associated with their departure.
No one takes responsibility for the act of sending these soldiers to the battlefield. Nor
would tears be shed when they died in the battlefield as they have been send off- no
one recognizes their sacrifice.
b. Mention the line that follows. How does it reinforce the tragedy?
Ans: They were not ours.’
This line reinforces the tragic condition of the young soldiers marched off to a battlefield
that would be the resting place for many of them. No one takes responsibility, no one
claims these soldiers as their own. They have been earmarked for an assignment which
they must carry out dutifully, yet there is none to embrace them as their very own.
Literary Devices
1. Symbolism: The white flowers given by the women are symbolically described as
‘wreaths’ and ‘sprays’, which have funereal connotations.
2. Personification: ‘a lamp/Winked to the guard’, ‘signals nodded’
3. Irony: The poem conveys a sense of guilt, as if someone in authority knows
transportation of troops to the front is wrong and yet is part of greater conspiracy to
cover the whole thing up. The irony of the ‘guard’ - one who should protect oversees
the sending of men to their deaths.
4. Simile: ‘So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up’
5. Alliteration: ‘grimly gay’
6. Oxymoron: ‘grimly gay’