The send of

Introduction:
“My subject is war and the pity of war the poetry is in the pity.” Wilfred Edward Salter Owen,
was an English poet and soldier whose work was characterised by his anger at the cruelty
and waste of war, which he experienced during his service on the Western Front.
He was one of the leading poets of the First World War and his experiences in war led him
further to challenge his religious beliefs, which is what catalysed some of his most poignant
pieces.

The send off is one of Owen's most disturbing and affecting poems. It was written while he
was convalescing at Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh after sustaining injuries on the
battlefield, and was revised a year later. the poem goes into detail orwells experiences
fighting in the trenches in northern France during World War I.

I will go onto analyse how the narrators experience and interpretations of war is expressed
through structural conventions and linguistic devices and then further explore how themes
and symbolism illustrate Orwell’s war

Themes
Propaganda vs Reality, Secrets and conspiracies, Futility of war

 Through the poem the theme of the inedible demise of the soldiers is present
.throught the usage of linguistic devices such as imargery and pathetic fallacy “Down the
close, darkening lanes they sang their way”.Imargey is present in darkening lanes conveying
the lanes that lead you down a path in this case leads to the cetain death of
soilders.Similarly the use of pathetic fallacy in darkening lanes to forshadow the inpending
death of soilders.This conveys to the reader the harsh reality of war as oppsode to the image
of propaganda posters illustrated hence creating a sence of cognizance and benevolence
towards the soldiers allowing them to further question the…..

 Furthermore the theme of secrets and consparies is present in the as seen in the 5 th
staza “So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went .The use of sibilance in S empazises the
secrect of war being held and kept by the government as well as hushed impling the
government treating the soilders hushing them deaming the nature of the governemts
secrecy on the contents of war .Moreover the use of the use secrect conveys we will soon
incover the secrect when the soilders go onto the batterfield.Hence the reader is left with a
feeling of empathy and understanding of the wrongdoings of the goverement once again
progogating the harsh lie of the war

 Finally the them of proganda vs reality has a strong preseance in a large amount of
orwells poems as he suggests the exent of wartime propagna and and horrific effects on
soilders as seen in the last stanaza may creep back,slient to still village wells orwell used
irony suggest the poor physical state that results in impaired movement or could represent
the emotional impact of war on the soldiers, hence they “creep,” with sadness, rather than
walk. Also connotes moving silently, as the crowds who went to see them leave for the war
no longer care.Similary the use of sibilance in “silent, to still village wells,” reinforces the
secrets of the reality of war as kept by the government and lied to in the propaganda
 posters. Hence propagates to the reader the harsh reality of war as opposed to the image
the propaganda posters illustrated.

Structure:
The poem consists of 6 verses. The first verse describes the ironic happiness that filled the
soldiers hearts as they perceived war as a noble act.
The second verse focuses on their destined doomed through the poet's use of the semantic
field of death by using references to funerals.
The third verse creates a visual imagery of the ostentatious farewell however the irony of
the soldiers naive perspective of war is also expressed.
The fourth verse describes the mysteriousness and lack of information soldiers had. The fifth
verse addresses the lonely women the soldiers leave behind. The final verse questions the
return of the soldiers

Tone:
Tone: Morose, depressed, ominous, foreboding sense of doom..
I will now move on to analyze the tone of the poem, similar to the theme through Orwell’s
poems there is a uniform ominous and foreboding sense of doom tone. The title "The Send
Off" reflects sending an animal to slaughter, which is ironic since despite them glorifying
their patriotism for the country - they are ultimately going to their slaughter hence
immediately creating a sinister tone

Furthermore the poem shits to a foreboding mood as orwell describes”Down the close
darkening lanes they sang there way” Owen uses language here to create a feeling of fear
and impending doom. The ‘close, darkening lanes’ are claustrophobic and frightening as the
men bid farewell to home and hed into the unknown
few, a few, too few for drums and yells,
 Repetition of soft sounds “a few, a few, too few,” create a morose tone, emphasising
how sad it is that only a few soldiers return

Stylistic devices

Stood staring hard,

 “stood staring,” sibilance – emphasises the whispers of the government – allusion to
the secret of war being held and kept by the government
 The enjambment here emphasises their staring; they appear to wear serious and
gloomy expressions, and so it is implied they know something the singing soldiers
don’t.- they have seen many train loads of young men sent off to war never to return
Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp
 “unmoved,” diction- lack of emotion, atmosphere becomes more sinister as soon as the
soldiers leave, support idea that the send off was very forced and put on
 “signals nodded,” – personification – all part of a secret conspiracy as nodding was a
sign to shoot someone.
Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
 “stuck,” – diction – ‘stuck’ was a phrase used to describe getting shot- here it is a pun
representing death
 wreath – Juxtaposition- a wreath is a funeral flower arrangement. They were also used
as celebration flowers. Here it creates the image that this celebration is false and will
lead to death.

And lined the train with faces grimly gay.

 grimly gay – oxymoron and alliteration - gay is happy and grimly connotes negative
emotions, this could express how on the surface the soldiers are happy to go to war,
but are secretly upset about it. It could also mean that they are happy for now, but will
not be happy when they reach the battlefield and confront the reality of war. G
alliteration emphasises this

 Effect on Reader sentence starters

 Illustrates to the reader the brutality of war…
 exemplifiers the futility of war…
 portrays to the reader the excessive violence and arduous nature of war,
 Effects the reader as it creates empathy in them due to the conditions the soldiers had
to fight in
 Propagates to the reader the harsh reality of war as opposed to the image the
propaganda posters illustrated