1a. What physical hardships do the soldiers face as they march?
2a. What does the speaker see when one soldier does not get his gas mask on?
3a. What is "the old Lie"?
4a. What emotions does the speaker feel after seeing the gassed soldier?
5a. Why might people have told "the old Lie"? Evaluate reasons for perpetuating the notion that it is glorious to die for your country.
1b. What is the mood of the soldiers?
2b. Why does this sight live on in the speaker's dreams?
3b. Who do you think perpetrates the lie?
4b. What ideal does the speaker oppose?
5b. Compare and contrast Owen's view of war with that of Brooke in "The Soldier."
Verbal Irony. How is the title of the poem ironic?
Alliteration. What consonant sounds are repeated in lines 5–7? Where else does Owen use alliteration?
Image.How do the images of the gassed soldier contribute to Owen's purpose?
1. Write an anti-war slogan.
2. Imagine you are a soldier who was with Owen. Write a letter home that describes what you have experienced and your reaction to it.
3. Besides being gassed, many World War I veterans were "shell-shocked." Write a scene in which a soldier exhibits symptoms of shell shock.
Verbals: Participles and Gerunds. In each of the excerpts below, identify the verbals. If a participle is used as an adjective, identify the noun that it modifies. (Look for both past participles and present participles.) Write G after a gerund and P after a participle.
1. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge.
2. Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs.
3. An ecstasy of fumbling, / Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time . . .
4. As under a green sea, I saw him drowning . . .
5. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace / Behind the wagon that we flung him in . . .
Wartime Technology. Research World War I technology, and find photographs or drawings that illustrate your research. Prepare a presentation on this technology for your class.
Research Findings on World War I Technology:
Sources Used:
Writing a Dialogue. Confined for a time in a sanatorium during World War I, Wilfred Owen met poet Siegfried Sassoon, who shared his anti-war views. Write a dialogue that might have taken place between Owen and Sassoon in which they discuss their views and the work of Rupert Brooke. Then read your dialogue for the class. In preparation, you might consider reading part of Jon Stallworthy's Wilfred Owen: a Biography (Oxford University Press and Chatto and Windus, 1974), which discusses Sassoon's influence on Owen.
