Wilfred Owen

Many poets have written during World War 1 and succeeded in telling a horrifying story of the conditions in which they have lived. One of those poets would be Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen, a poet who died in action during that same war he wrote in, was a renowned for his imagery and his talent in portraying the fate the soldiers had to face. His poems could be understood in many ways, some in more ways than others. ‘Strange Meeting’ one of his works, one of the hardest to understand, had many ways to be explored in. This essay will explore the classical way. Wilfred Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’ shows evidence of classical imagery.

In Strange Meeting Wilfred Owen has changed the image of a Christian Hell towards a classical image. Instead of showing a Hell full of fire and burning bodies, it is quiet in his Underworld. Almost in peace. Something that has to be said is the fact that even though it might be quiet in this underworld, it is still unpleasant. In Wilfred Owen his poem he says that there are ‘encumbered sleepers’ who groaned, in the Underworld of the Odyssey it is full of miserable spirits of the dead. The Odyssey paints a worse image than Wilfred Owen does, but in the end the effect will be the same. It will give a chill up every single one person’s spine. This is also what Wilfred Owen is good at. He wouldn’t exactly describe word by word all of the worse things that are happening, he uses synonyms which still are displeasing to hear and feel but just aren’t as direct as the words he could’ve used instead.

Wilfred Owen begins describing a tunnel, a tunnel which Titanic wars have groined. These Titanic wars could refer to his war, the first World War, the enormous impact it had. But it could also refer to the Titanomachy. T...

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.... Achilles calls Lycaon a friend, but he does not show any mercy to him, in the same way that the speaker did not show any mercy to the sleeper as the sleeper was ‘the enemy that you killed, my friend’.

Altogether, this poem, ‘Strange Meeting’, has shown a great amount of classical images and references. The first layer would be about the First World War itself, but a few layers below are all the references. With research it is unbelievable how much evidence can be found in this poem. Knowing about Owen, he also did his research on Greek mythology and eventually he made this poem, not knowing how hard it would be to explore every single layer it has. Knowing the first layer of this poem makes it worthwhile, knowing one more layer makes it even better but after all knowing the lowest layer it has makes this poem one of the greatest poems ever written, in my opinion.