Owen, Wilfred. "Strange Meeting".

Summary and Analysis

- restrained imagery = a sense of numbness throughout the whole poem
- dying: no relief, no forgetfulness x but: a resignation, an awareness of the evil
- the speaker escapes from war into "some profound dull tunnel", finds there bodies of sleeping/dead men, one of whom stirs, and from "his dead smile" the speaker knows he is in Hell
- the speaker: tells the stranger that "Here is no cause to mourn", the man agrees, but modifies the statement in his discomforting monologue
- the stranger: sadly contemplates his earthly life, points out the "truth untold" about "the pity of war", and says also this truth must be forgotten before he retires to sleep
- conclusion: the stranger recognises from the speaker's frown he is the enemy who killed him yesterday, gives not a single word of reproach, but invites the speaker: "Let us sleep now…"
- the poem remains unfinished, ends with the line above