Analysis of Strange Meeting
Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)
It seemed that out of the battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which Titanic wars had groined.
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.
With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained;
Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
'Strange, friend,' I said, 'Here is no cause to mourn.'
'None,' said the other, 'Save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something has been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery;
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery;
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.
I would have poured my spirit without stint
But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.
Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.
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 ...
Scheme | ABCDAEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYXFGZZQ1 2 3 4 5 6 S7 KXW8 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111010101 1101110111 111010111 1101010101 110111111 1111111101 11010011 10111111 0111111101 1111111101 10101110111 1111110101 0111110111 1111111111 1101010011 010010111 1111011101 1001010001 1111011101 11010101010 01111111 1111110111 0111010111 1111110101 01011010101 1111101111 1001110011 1111110101 1111110111 1011011100 1011011100 1101110101 01111111 11111111001 1111011111 1011111111 1111110011 1111110111 111111110 1101001111 1110111111 101111101 1101110101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,938 |
Words | 368 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,535 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 364 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 171 Views
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