The Send Off Analysis

Written at training camp in Ripon, Wilfred Owen wrote The Send-off primarily as an expression of the rough journey taken both physically and mentally by the soldiers, the village acting as a microcosm for the nation in WW1. In stanzas 1 to 3, the soldiers are beginning their journey to war departing on a train. The poem then highlights the soldier s lack of understanding as they are left unaware of where they were going nor the desperation they will face. This draws a line between the reader and the men that have left to deal with the pity of war in stanza 4 and 5. The poem comes to an end in stanza 6 as the return of the broken men accentuate the consequences of war. Owen uses a range of techniques such as the stark, uncomplicated diction, unlike Dulce et Decorum est, aural imagery and the sombre and ironic tone. In particular, I found the title the most interesting as it refers to the ritual of a funeral suggesting the men are walking to their deaths, the narrator immediately informing the reader of his disdain towards the tragedies of war.

The poem begins the soldier s journey to their ultimate death. He critiques their jolly nature as the aural imagery of sang sets the scene of the men holding on to whatever bravery they could muster as deemed respectable in society due to their duty to uphold morality despite its irony. However, the darkening lanes foreshadows the narrowing of their destiny as their hope changes into desperation. Their faces are described to be oxymoronically grimly gay showing the reader they were emotionally torn as they understood the consequences of going to war, yet feared it at the same time. The break in the stanza mirrors the mental breakage within the soldiers as they faced the visceral reality. This is juxtaposed with the alliteration of White with wreaths , the gifts depicting remembrance. The colour imagery of white symbolizes mourning and emptiness as it depicts the lack of emotion as they send men to their death, which they distance themselves from by using uncaring rituals as shown through the punctuation cutting of society from the dead in the following line. He also continues that as the men are left alone only a tramp and a dull porter to bid them farewell unenthusiastically. Their lack of emotion shows societies detachment.

The tone shifts as the implications of the war changes the men to be more serious as they do not have uphold their fa ade, their unease slipping through their masks. This is shown through the alliteration of so secretly as though they know their actions are in the wrong. Owen is accentuating the immorality of the nature of war as it goes against the evolution of mankind to kill one another. The change in diction of they went and were sent shows that they had a choice in it before, however now it was inevitable, the passive verb rendering their wills useless.

The final stanza, beginning with a rhetorical question is laced with irony as they face their victory in silence mourning the many men lost rather than celebrating. This loss of life leaves the nation broken as A few, a few, too few would return to the village wells . The elongated vowels contrasts the clipped sounds in his other poems highlighting the lingering pain. The simple diction leaves a sinister, secretive and subdue tone leaving the reader to feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable with guilt as the neurasthenic men are only remnants of their recent violent past.

Like many of Owen s poems, this poem highlighted the effects of war and the pitiful breakage of the men leaving them not fully human in the end.