Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Wilfred Owen was a soldier in WWI. According to this poem, what do you think his attitude toward war is? How can you tell, based on the text of the poem?
- For the first couple of lines we think this poor soldier might have escaped the tortures of battle, but instead he's been sent to hell.
- These don't seem like such bad guys, so why are they in hell? What did they do to deserve that eternal punishment?
- And speaking of hell, why should their suffering continue beyond the battlefield, and which do you think is worse: the suffering they endured in battle, or the suffering in hell? Can you tell, based on the poem itself?
- Do you think speaker number two has forgiven speaker number one for killing him? How can you tell?
- We don't hear from speaker number one after the first part of the poem. If you had to guess his reaction and response to speaker number two's speech, what do you think he would say?
- Do you think there is any hope for the two soldiers in this poem, or for the future soldiers that speaker number two talks about? Why or why not?