Welcome to “Strange Meeting Workbook Answer: ISC Rhapsody (Evergreen),” where we delve into the haunting verses of Wilfred Owen’s “Strange Meeting” through the ISC English Literature Rhapsody by Evergreen Publications. In this post, we provide comprehensive answers to multiple-choice and contextual questions, deepening your understanding of Owen’s profound exploration of the futility of war and human connection. We meticulously unravel the themes of conflict, reconciliation, and the shared humanity that transcends the horrors of battle. Each question serves as a gateway to dissecting the poem, urging readers to analyze subtle nuances and extract deeper meanings. Contextual inquiries broaden our canvas for exploration, encouraging critical engagement with the socio-political backdrop and universal themes embedded in Owen’s poignant narrative. Through this detailed examination, readers sharpen their analytical skills and develop a profound appreciation for the literary craftsmanship of Wilfred Owen. Whether you are a student navigating ISC English Literature or an avid reader exploring war poetry, “ISC Rhapsody: Strange Meeting Workbook Solutions” offers valuable insights. Join us on this literary journey as we illuminate the path to understanding, one workbook solution at a time.
Table of Contents
About The Poem :
The poet creates an imaginary situation in which a British soldier saw a vision. He found himself in a deep dark tunnel dug out through granite rocks. There were many soldiers in the tunnel, sleeping and groaning with pain, as if in Hell. When the British soldier started probing the soldiers lying asleep, one of them stood up with a pathetic look in his eyes. By the smile on his face, the British soldier realized that both of them were in hell.
The dead soldier introduced him as a German soldier. He said that he was not allowed to live his full life to live and enjoy, and that was something to lament about. He told the British soldier that once he had hunted wildly after the wildest possible beauty in the world, a beauty which did not lie calm in eyes or in her pleated hair. Thus, he too wasted his time in many worldly pursuits. He said that he had another regret in his mind. Now he had experienced war and knew its reality. Had he been alive he would have gone back to tell the people that their ideals about bravery and war were all fake. He said that now he was free from the strangle hood of those fake ideals. If he came to life, he would like to work for peace. He would try to apply ointment to the wounds of the suffering people.
Then the German soldier suddenly addressed the British soldier as his brother, and disclosed that he was the enemy whom he (the British soldier) killed the previous day. He recalled how he jabbed and killed him. He tried to defend himself but his hands were unwilling to retaliate and kill any man. So he perished.
At the end the German soldier proposed to the British soldier that they should go to sleep now.
Stanza Wise Explanation :
Lines 1-10
The poem is a kind of a nightmare in which the poet-persona seems to have escaped from the battlefield. He enters a tunnel which had been lifted long ago during the time of Titanic wars. In the tunnel, he observes many people suffering, moaning with pain, but surprisingly they seem to be in deep sleep, as if they were all dead. The poet examines the dead bodies and all of a sudden one soldier gets up. He looks at the speaker with distressing eyes as if he has recognized him to be a man who killed him the other day. He lifts up his hands towards the speaker as if to bless him.
Lines 11-21
The smiling expression on the dead soldier’s face and in his eyes make the speaker realize that both of them have reached a gloomy place called hell. Though the dead soldier’s face is filled with pain and grief, yet there is no sign of blood he has shed on the battlefield. There is no sign of the sounds of guns and the smoke produced by them. The speaker consoles the other soldier that there is no reason to mourn in this palce. The other soldier replies in a mournful tone that he also shares the same hope that he has. He puts forward the view that though there is no sorrow over here yet he feels upset for the years he has wasted in war.
When he was alive, he recalls, he looked for a really beautiful passionate woman, Beauty, according to him, lies not in calmness but in wild passion. Even if such beauty causes grief that grief has something grand and beautiful about it. These words of the dead soldier reveals that he was a passionate, romantic youth, when alive.
Lines 22-29
The dead soldier regrets that if he had not died, he would have put efforts to make people laugh and make them enjoy. He asserts that he has never appreciated any war. He might have got chance to acquaint the people in general about the horrors of war, The truth about the hollowness of the war is yet to be disclosed. He feels upset over the fact that war takes away precious lives. It is the total loss of a generation and he would have told this truth to people if he had been alive. In the absence of guidance, these human beings would not put an end to war. They won’t understand the level of agitation and violence that war creates along with the psychological or physical suffering. Soldiers will keep on fighting bravely and rashly. They will not stop fighting even though nations engaged in war get diverted from the path of progress.
Lines 30-38
The dead soldier says that when he was a alive he had requisite courage, wisdom and expertise and he knew the nature of war. Now when he is dead, he is free from the hold of fake ideals of bravery. He has found those ideals meaningless. He says that had he been alive, he would have spent time in washing the blood-stained wheels rather than participating in the war. He asserts that he would never engage in any war and would not kill any innocent person.
Lines 39-44
In these lines, the speaker affirms that war leaves trail of destruction behind in many forms. Soldiers in war who are not physically injured are mentally wounded. They suffer psychologically. The soldier finally reveals to the speaker that he is the one whom he killed yesterday. He continues to say that he has recognized him in the darkness by his frowning forehead which he observed earlier, while fighting with him. He reveals how he tried to defend himself but as he was unwilling to kill, he could not save himself and got killed. He asks the speaker that now both should sleep in peace now.
Workbook MCQs :
(i) Why is the meeting referred to in the poem is strange?
(a) because it takes place in hell
(b) because it seems to be totally unrealistic
(c) because it seems strange to the speaker
(d) because it is abrupt
Answer :- (c) because it seems strange to the speaker
(iI) What does the poet want to convey?
(a) his disgust with war
(b) people’s ideals about war
(c) the futility of war
(d) the need to meet enemy soldiers
Answer :- (c) the futility of war
(iII) What kind of atmosphere in the poem is created
(a) cheerful
(b) eerie
(c) sad
(d) formal
Answer :- (c) sad
(iV) What do you think about what the speaker sees in the trunnel?
(a) what he sees is in Hell
(b) what he sees is a kind of vision or nightmare
(c) what he sees is real
(d) none of the above
Answer :- (b) what he sees is a kind of vision or nightmare
(v) What do you think of the sleepers in the tunnel?
(a) they are dead soldiers
(b) they are dead enemy soldiers
(c) they are injured soldiers
(d) they are resting for a while
Answer :- (a) they are dead soldiers
(vI) What has the dead ‘enemy’ solider has understood?
(a) that war ideals are fake
(b) that wars should be banned
(c) that soldiers should refuse to fight
(d) that war is good if it is for long-term peace
Answer :- [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(vII) In what state of mind was the dead German soldier?
(a) sad
(b) mournful and repenting
(c) apathetic
(d) harsh
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(vIII) Why did the German soldier get killed easily?
(a) because he was too tired to counter-attack
(b) because he was sleeping
(c) because his hands were numb
(d) because his hands were unwilling to kill anyone
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(iX) The words ‘my friend’ spoken by the dead soldier reveals that he :
(a) recognised in the other soldier a long-last friend
(b) wanted to please the other soldier
(c) wanted to die peacefully
(d) had no feeling of hatred even for his killer
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(x) The German soldier had recognized his killer from:
(a) a smile on his face
(b) his frown
(c) his voice
(d) his gait
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Logic Based Questions :
(i) The poem, Strange Meeting, is an anti-war poem because it brings out the horrors and futility of war.
(iI) The strange meeting takes place in a dream or vision because the whole atmosphere is dream-like and the meeting with a ‘dead’ soldier can be only in a dream or vision.
(iII) The smile of the strange soldier is ‘dead’ because it is devoid of any feeling of cheerfulness.
(iV) The dead soldier expresses his hopelessness in the poem because he knows he cannot go back to life to tell the people about his experience of war.
(v) The dead soldier wanted to be alive again because he wants to tell the people that war is horrible and war ideals are fake.
(vI) The dead soldier says that he could not save himself because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(vII) The meeting is shown to take place in Hell because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(vIII) The place where the speaker reaches through the dull tunnel is gloomy because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(iX) The dead soldier calls his killer ‘my friend’ because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(x) The poem is a strong plea for peace and brotherhood because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
Short Answer Questions :
(i) What did the British soldier see in the dark tunnel ?
Answer :- The speaker in the poem, a soldier, found himself in a deep, dark tunnel. He saw in the tunnel many soldiers groaning in sleep. They could not be moved as they seemed to be lost in thoughts or perhaps death. It was probable that they all were soldiers killed in the war. They were, however, groaning as if they were still alive. This is what makes us feel that the whole scene was dreamy or visionary.
(iI) What did the dead soldier tell about his unfulfilled desires ?
Answer :- The ‘dead’ soldier tells the speaker that his only regret is that he has not been allowed to live his full life on the earth. He wanted to enjoy the company of his friends and relatives. If he had survived the war and gone back ;he would have tried people not to wage wars. He would have warned the people of the great horrors of war. He would have impressed upon them to realize that all war ideals are fake and that peace has its own rewards.
(iII) On what note did the poem end? What message does the poet want to convey?
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(iV) Comment on the narrative technique used in the poem.
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(v) In what way is the eerie atmosphere in the tunnel thematically appropriate?
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Long Answer Questions :
(i) Discuss ‘The Strange Meeting’ as an anti-war poem with close reference to the text.
Answer :- “The Strange Meeting” by Wilfred Owen is an anti-war poem. In no way does it glorify or celebrate war. In the very beginning, the horrors of war are brought out clearly by the description of the hell-like place where the meeting between a soldier, the speaker in the poem (probably a British soldier), and another soldier (probably a German soldier) takes place. The place is a dark, deep, hell-like cave created by the bombing of the land during the war. This is what war does to the fertile land. It destroys everything that is positive and life-giving. The reference to the soldiers groaning in sieep in the tunnel is horrifying. All these soldiers are possibly dead. They are ‘sleeping’ in the Hell.
Through the ‘dead’ soldier the poet conveys the idea that war is based on ideals of heroism, courage, patriotism, etc. which are fake in reality, though they sound very appealing, especially to the youngsters. War-mongers force soldiers to fight and perish in the name of these ideals. War cuts short the precious lives of young people and separates them from their friends and relatives. They die painful deaths. Had they met in peace time they would have easily become friends.
Thus, the poem underlines war as something horrible and avoidable.
(iI) Describe the strange meeting. Where does it actually take place?
Answer :- In the poem ‘The Strange Meeting”, Wilfred Owen imagines a situation in which a soldier, the speaker in the poem, has a dream or vision in which he encounters another soldier who is dead — the one who has actually been killed by him. This dream-like meeting is surreal in nature.
The meeting between the two soldiers takes place in a dark, deep, hell-like cave or tunnel. The tunnel, it seems, has been scooped through the rocks of granite. Actually it seems to be a cave formed as a result of the huge war (Titanic wars) raging on the earth. The reference is made implicitly to the First World War in which the poet himself was a soldier. It is in this cave or tunnel that the speaker finds some soldiers sleeping and groaning with pain. Actually, they are the dead soldiers – groaning in hell. It is in the cave that the speaker comes face to face with the soldier whom he killed the previous day. The “dead” soldier springs up from the dead and addresses him as if he has recognized him.
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(iII) What message does the poet want to convey?
Answer :- [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
