Discussion Questions for Wilfred Owen's war poems assigned February 17-21.
Where does "Strange Meeting" take place? How does Owen humanize his dead enemy in this poem?
What determines the organization of "Insensibility" into separate stanzas? How does this structure reinforce the meaning of the poem?
In "Arms and the Boy," why is it necessary to arm the boy before sending him into war?
Which love is greater in "Greater Love": the love of a man for a woman? or the love of the soldiers who die for their cause? What is the difference between these two types of love?
How has Owen altered the story of Abraham and Isaac in order to make his point about war in "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young"?
What is the ideal behind the Latin phrase Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country)? What is the reality that Owen compares it with?
What are the different meanings of the term exposure in Owen's poem by that name?
What has happened to the speaker of the poem "The Show"? Who is showing him the show?
What is the effect of Owen's personification of the guns in "The Last Laugh"?
Describe the gap in "The Letter" between the letter's content and the reality of life for the writer of the letter.
Where does "Conscious" take place? What is the condition of the poem's main character?