Comprehension

A. Answer these questions in one or two words.

Q1. Who is the speaker in ‘Strange Meeting’?
Answer: The speaker is a dead soldier.

Q2. When did the speaker realise that he was in hell?
Answer: The speaker realized he was in hell when he saw the other soldier’s “dead smile”.

Q3. What does the poet mean by ‘chariot wheels’?
Answer: The poet uses “chariot wheels” to mean the wheels of progress of various nations.

Q4. What does the speaker discover in the underworld?
Answer: The speaker discovers that the man he killed was the “enemy” he met in the underworld.

B. Answer these questions in a few words each.

Q1. What do you mean by war poetry?
Answer: War poetry is a genre of poetry that deals with the experiences, suffering, and psychological trauma associated with war.

Q2. What are the poetic devices often used by Wilfred Owen in his poems?
Answer: Wilfred Owen often uses alliteration, assonance, and striking imagery in his poems.

Q3. Why is the meeting between the two soldiers called a ‘strange meeting’?
Answer: The meeting is “strange” because it takes place in the afterlife and the two men were enemies who had killed each other.

Q4. What does the poet mean by ‘titanic wars’?
Answer: The poet uses the phrase “titanic wars” to refer to colossal, immense, and destructive wars.

Q5. ‘Let us sleep now’. What does sleep signify in the poem?
Answer: “Sleep” signifies a desire for peace, rest, and an end to the pain and anguish of war.

C. Answer these questions briefly in your own words.

Q1. What is the significance of the title ‘Strange Meeting’?
Answer: The title highlights the profound and unexpected nature of the encounter. The two soldiers, who were enemies in life, find shared humanity in death, emphasizing the senselessness of war.

Q2. Write a brief note on Wilfred Owen’s representation of the underworld to explore the horrors of war.
Answer: Owen’s underworld is a “profound dull tunnel,” a gloomy, non-heroic place contrasting traditional glorified afterlife depictions. The atmosphere shows the psychological torment and endless suffering of the dead.

Q3. ‘I parried; but my hands were loath and cold. Let us sleep now…’ What is the significance of the last two lines?
Answer: The lines underscore the futility of war and soldiers’ exhaustion. “Parried…loath and cold” shows reluctance and death’s effects, while “Let us sleep now” is a plea for peace and rest after the trauma.

Q4. How does ‘Strange Meeting’ challenge the traditional view of war as noble and heroic?
Answer: The poem focuses on human cost and futility, portraying soldiers mourning lost potential. The shared lament reveals that enmity was illusory, stripping war of any noble purpose.

D. Answer in detail.

Q1. Bring out the central idea of ‘Strange Meeting’.
Answer: The central idea is the futility and tragedy of war, and the shared humanity of all soldiers. It rejects patriotic glorification, showing how soldiers destroy each other’s potential. The meeting between the dead soldiers symbolizes the self-destructive nature of war and the artificial divisions created by nations.

Q2. How does the poet portray the hopelessness of war in the lines:
‘… Whatever hope is yours, Was my life also; I went hunting wild After the wildest beauty in the world …’?
Answer: These lines reveal the deep hopelessness of war by showing that both soldiers once shared noble hopes and passions (“hunting wild / After the wildest beauty”). War has destroyed these aspirations, cutting short their lives and leaving only despair. The tragedy lies in the indiscriminate destruction of vibrant, hopeful human potential.