"Strange Meeting" is a poem by

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by ...

. It deals with the atrocities of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The poem was written sometime in 1918 and was published in 1919 after Owen's death. The poem is narrated by a soldier who goes to the underworld to escape the hell of the battlefield and there he meets the enemy soldier he killed the day before. This poem has been described as one of Owen's "most haunting and complex war poems".

Pararhyme Pararhyme is a half-rhyme in which there is vowel variation within the same consonant pattern. " Strange Meeting" (1918) is a poem by Wilfred Owen, a war poet who used pararhyme in his writing. Here is a part of the poem that shows pararhyme: :Too ...

or double consonance is a particular feature of the poetry of Wilfred Owen and also occurs throughout "Strange Meeting" – the whole poem is written in pararhyming couplets. For example: "And by his smile I knew that sullen hall, / By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell." The pararhyme here links key words and ideas, without detracting from the meaning and solemnity of the poem, as a full rhyme sometimes does. However, the failure of two similar words to rhyme and the obvious omission of a full rhyme creates a sense of discomfort and incompleteness. It is a discordant note that matches well to the disturbing mood of the poem. This poem is the final one of Owen's poems set in the ''

War Requiem The ''War Requiem'', Op. 66, is a large-scale setting of the Requiem composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The ''War Requiem'' was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was b ...

'' of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

. It is sung by the tenor and baritone soloists accompanied by chamber orchestra, joined at the closing line "Let us sleep now..." by the full forces of orchestra, organ, and soprano soloist, mixed chorus and children's chorus, singing Latin texts. The line "I am the enemy you killed, my friend" appears on the memorial sculpture to Owen erected by Wilfred Owen Association, (sculptors husband-and-wife

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and Ruth de Monchaux) in the grounds of

Shrewsbury Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Shrewsbury (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the Norm ...

(in whose parish his family settled) to mark his birth centenary in 1993.

References

External links

''Strange Meeting'' at The First World War Poetry Digital Archive, University of Oxford. {{Wilfred OwenSet to Music by Benjam Britten, War Requiem, 1962, by Marcel Haag 2022 Poetry by Wilfred Owen World War I poems 1918 poems