The Send off - Wilfred Owen
War is the main theme in all of Wilfred Owen's poems and in "The send-off" it focuses on the response of the people at home to it's events. The title itself is ironic for a send-off is usually a happy occasion of farewell and the send-off to war is more often than not a celebrated event. But Owen's poem deals with harsh realism and argues that there is nothing to celebrate for the facts are these men will either be killed or return home as broken men. In the poem the troops are being sent off most likely to their death and yet the people fail to understand the full implication of the event, which adds bitterness to Owen's criticism.At the beginning of the poem we are presented with the image of a typical rural scene, with soldiers merrily singing through the streets to their farewell. The excitement in the words of 'they sang their way' is compensated by the notion of the fatefulness of the occasion. Down the 'close darkening lanes', creates a image and sense of claustrophobia that the lanes are fatefully closing in on them, implying that it is a point of no return. Their send-off march is clouded in the oncoming darkness as they bid farewell, but it is this darkness, which is a metaphor of the dark destiny that
The use of alliteration and the strong "b" sound of 'beating' and 'bells' gives it more of an impact due to the sharper effect of the sounds, and conveys Owen's strong feelings to the peoples naive understandings of war. ' The verbs come into play for the lifeless signals, essentially unmoved in terms of emotion physically nods. "The Send-off" deals with the ideas of war itself, the effects of war on those who experience it first hand and ordinary peoples naive understandings of war. 'May creep back, silent, to still village wells up half-known roads' the softer sound of "s" and the repetition of the "l" within the words creates gentleness about the words. That 'they were not ours' implies the poets concern for all those that went to war. For it shows that even though war might be over in the physical world to those who have experienced it, it will cease they will never know peace. ' Dead being a monosyllabic word whilst being placed at the end of the sentence after two pauses really emphasizes the word itself and makes the necessary impact. For 'Their breasts were struck all white' the verb 'struck' adding brutality in sound and sense. In the oxymoron, 'grimly gay,' the men's expressions as seen in the train windows emphasises the uncertainty of their departure and the beginning of recognition of the implications of their destiny. 'So secretly, like wrongs hushed up, they went. The would-be hero's are adorned with flowers, 'Their breasts were struck all white with wreath and spray' some of which the women have pinned to their uniforms. But this seemly gracious act is clouded in negativity for the flowers remind Owen of wreaths found on the body of corpses. "A lamp winked to the guard', through the use of personification it suggests the lamps knowing wink implies that it is all too familiar with such a situation, it knows the destiny of these men, where as they themselves don't.
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Acceptance Essays
