The Send Off (Poem) Notes

INDIAN SCHOOL MUSCAT
MIDDLE SECTION
CLASS VIII SUBJECT: ENGLISH

DATE: .10.2023 TOPIC: LITERATURE
The Send- off - Wilfred Owen
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
III. Frame a meaningful sentence with the word ‘grimly’
IV. Reference to Context.

A. Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
As men’s are, dead.
a. Who is being described here? What is suggested by this description?
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.
c. How would you describe the poet’s mood at this juncture?

Ans: The poet is angry and cynical. This is a poem of protest against the horrors of
war.
B. Then, unmoved, signals nodded and a lamp

Winked to the guard.
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.
3. Why is this image in contrast with what comes just before?

Ans: This is in contrast with the image of the tramp who feels genuinely sorry at the
sight of the soldiers leaving. He has got used to their presence and is not really keen to
let them go. There is warmth of kinship here, which is contrasted with the image of
conspiracy that follows.
V. Answer the following questions.

1. Where do you think the soldiers are leaving for?
Ans: In the poem, the First World War is on and the soldiers, recruited by the British
Army are leaving for the warfront.
2. Explain the expression ‘grimly gay ’. What figure of speech is this?
Ans: The expression ‘grimly gay’ is an oxymoron, as two opposing emotions are placed
next to each other. The poet portrays the conflicting emotions of the young soldiers as
they prepare to leave for the warfront. The false expressions of joy, bravery and pride
on the soldiers’ faces are actually hiding their anxiety and distress at the unnerving
prospect of going to war.
3. Who stood staring hard and what is his emotion? Is everybody feeling the same
way? Give reasons for your answer.
Ans: A tramp stood watching the soldiers leave, feeling sorry about it as he may have
got used to watching them training in their camp. The porters do not share the same
emotion as they have seen many troops of soldiers march into such trains, never to
return. The porters watched them disinterestedly as soldiers leaving for the warfront had
become a routine experience.
*******************************************************************
TEXT BOOK QUESTIONS:

A. Answer these questions.
4. Why did women offer them flowers? What makes the poet feel that the soldiers might
mock the gesture?
Ans: Though the women were showing genuine love and concern for the departing
soldiers by offering them flowers, the soldiers were mocking them silently because they
knew they were going to lose their lives in the war. To them, the flowers seemed more
like funeral wreaths.
5. Quote the rhetorical question that has been used in the concluding section of the
poem. With what purpose has this been used?
Ans: The rhetorical question used in the poem is as follows:
“Shall they return to beating of great bells
In wild train loads?”
The answer to this question is very obvious .The soldiers leave in large numbers in train
loads, but they will return as stray figures hurt, maimed or maybe even sick. The
rhetorical question is directed at the reader to sensitize them about the tragic
predicament of the soldiers.
6. Bring about the pathos in the last stanza of the poem.
Ans: The final stanza of ‘The Send-off’ reinforces the tragedy of war. When the soldiers
left for the battlefield, the operation was carried out secretly and quietly. They were send
off jubilantly but they will not return as they left. They will not be greeted by the ringing
of bells or beating of drums. Those who do return home will creep back and will take the
streets that are usually deserted as if to avoid meeting anyone. The pathos here is not
just the tragedy of death, but also the shame of being alive. These few soldiers feel
guilty to be alive. Their compatriots at the front have laid down their lives in the war,
whereas these soldiers return home dejected, defeated and broken carrying the burden
of a horrific experience.
.
7. Do you feel the soldiers are being sent off secretly? If so, why?
Ans: The soldiers leave like “wrongs hushed-up” because everyone knows that they will
probably die and it seems clear that many people would like to make their departure
secret and “hush-up” any discussion of them going to war. That way, people can
pretend the horrors of the war are not happening.
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. Answer these questions with reference to the context.
2. So secretly, like wrongs hushed –up, they went.

a. What is being depicted in this line? Explain the figure of speech that has been used
here.
Ans: The departure of the soldiers from the siding shed is referred to here. The soldiers
are being sent off to various war fronts. The backdrop of the poem is World War I. The
figure of speech used here is a simile.
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.
c. Explain the reason for such secrecy.

Ans: The young troops were being sent out quietly from the siding shed, and not with a
spectacular ceremony. Nobody knew where they were being transferred. Those who
sent them to their deaths were well aware of the horrors that awaited them. So the act
of sending them off had to secretive as they were being sent off to confront enemy
gunfire and die for a cause they had no knowledge of or understanding of.
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’

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INDIAN SCHOOL MUSCAT

CLASS VIII SUBJECT: ENGLISH

III. Frame a meaningful sentence with the word ‘grimly’

IV. Reference to Context.

a. Who is being described here? What is suggested by this description?

c. How would you describe the poet’s mood at this juncture?

B. Then, unmoved, signals nodded and a lamp

3. Why is this image in contrast with what comes just before?

V. Answer the following questions.

TEXT BOOK QUESTIONS:

B. Answer these questions with reference to the context.

2. So secretly, like wrongs hushed –up, they went.

c. Explain the reason for such secrecy.

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