Strange Meeting (Wilfred Owen): The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War
Updated 18 October 2026 · Fact-checked
In Strange Meeting, a soldier descends into a dream-Hell and meets a dead man who mourns 'the undone years' and 'the pity of war'. The revelation 'I am the enemy you killed, my friend' shows the shared humanity war destroys, and the pararhymes (hall/Hell, killed/cold) and the unfinished 'Let us sleep now . . .' reinforce the sense of loss.
Notice the inscribed line 'I am the enemy you killed, my friend', the poem's key revelation, shown on the memorial's two mirrored, symmetrical halves.
Picture: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Understand The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting)
The setting. The speaker says it 'seemed' he escaped the battle down 'some profound dull tunnel', where sleepers groan. One springs up and stares with 'piteous recognition' and lifts 'distressful hands as if to bless'. 'By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.'
The undone years. The speaker says 'Here is no cause to mourn.' The other replies there is, 'the undone years, / The hopelessness.' He had hunted 'the wildest beauty in the world'.
The truth untold. What dies with him is 'the pity of war, the pity war distilled.' Men will be content with what the war has spoiled or will fight again, and nations will turn from progress. He had courage, wisdom and mastery and would have washed the clogged chariot-wheels with truths 'too deep for taint'.
The revelation. 'I am the enemy you killed, my friend.' He recognised the frown of the man who 'jabbed and killed', and his own hands were 'loath and cold'.
Form and devices. Pararhyme (escaped/scooped, groined/groaned, hall/Hell, killed/cold) sounds discordant and unresolved. Oxymoron and paradox in 'enemy... friend' and 'Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were'. Repetition and parallelism. Ellipsis in the last line.
Meaning. The dead man is the speaker's double: his hopes were the speaker's. War makes two alike men kill each other, and the true loss is future beauty and truth.
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.
The speaker: Line 10.
The setting is revealed; hall and Hell form a pararhyme.
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
The enemy: Explaining the 'truth untold'.
The central message of the poem.
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
The enemy: Line 40.
Enemy and friend: shared humanity.
Let us sleep now . . .
The enemy: The last line.
Peace of death; the poem ends unfinished.
The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting): key facts
- Pararhymes
- escaped/scooped
- groined/groaned
- hall/Hell
- killed/cold
- Discordant, unresolved half-rhymes.
- What the dead man mourns
- undone years
- hopelessness
- truth untold
- pity of war
- Use for questions on theme.
- Devices
- oxymoron
- paradox
- repetition
- ellipsis
- dream vision
- Quote one phrase for each.
How to answer The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting) questions
Use this for questions on the meeting and its meaning.
- 1Outline the setting and the recognition.
- 2Quote the 'undone years' and 'pity of war' lines.
- 3Quote the revelation and explain the paradox.
- 4Add pararhyme with two examples.
- 5Conclude with shared humanity.
The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting) in real life
The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Seeing the person behind the label
Suppose two rival school teams meet after a bitter match, and a player realises that the boy he tackled hardest shares his love for the same music and the same dream of studying engineering.
How does this resemble the poem's revelation?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Rivalry makes them opponents.
- Shared hopes make them alike.
- The realisation turns the 'enemy' into a friend.
Answer: As in 'I am the enemy you killed, my friend', the label of enemy hides a shared humanity. The poem makes this realisation painful.
Memory hook: Enemy by label, friend by nature.
Tricks to remember The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting)
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
T-U-T-R
Tunnel, Undone years, Truth untold, Revelation.
Use it when: Order of the poem.
Half-rhyme, half peace
Pararhyme leaves the ear unsettled.
Use it when: Effect of the sound.
The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting): solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Where are they? · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
The speaker knows they are in Hell because of: (a) the flames (b) the dead smile (c) the cannons (d) the darkness
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- 'By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.'
Answer: (b)
Example 2: Assertion and reason · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonBoard level
Assertion (A): The poem ends with an ellipsis. Reason (R): The unfinished line suggests death, peace and something left unsaid.
(a) Both true, R explains A (b) Both true, R does not explain A (c) A true, R false (d) A false, R true
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The chapter page records the ellipsis in the last line and its effect.
Answer: (a)
Example 3: Gifts that are wasted · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
Discuss how the dead man's account of his own gifts deepens the sense of waste in the poem. Answer in about 100 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Courage, mystery, wisdom, mastery.
- He would have washed the clogged wheels with truth.
- All lost with his death.
Answer: He lists courage, mystery, wisdom and mastery and says he would have stood apart from the retreating world and washed the blood from the chariot-wheels with truths too deep for taint. Because these gifts could have healed what war spoiled, their loss is a loss for everyone, not only for him. The list makes the waste concrete.
Example 4: Pararhyme · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
What is pararhyme and how does it suit the theme? Give examples.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Define: matching consonants, different vowels.
- Examples: hall/Hell, killed/cold.
- Discordant, unresolved.
Answer: Pararhyme is half-rhyme where consonants match but vowels differ, as in hall/Hell and killed/cold. The near-rhymes sound discordant and unresolved, matching a world out of joint and giving a sense of loss.
Example 5: The revelation · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Discuss how the line 'I am the enemy you killed, my friend' changes the meaning of the poem.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The meeting is not random.
- The enemy is a double.
- The speaker is silent.
Answer: Until this line the dead man seems a stranger. The paradox of enemy and friend reveals he is the soldier the speaker killed, and that they share hopes. War makes alike men kill each other, so the line carries the pity of war.
Where students lose marks in The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting)
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Taking the tunnel literally
It is a vision.
Wrong working
A real tunnel.
Right working
A dream-Hell and the trench tunnels.
Do this: Use 'it seemed'.
Usually costs: 1 to 2 marks
Mistake: Missing the double
The enemy mirrors the speaker.
Wrong working
A stranger.
Right working
The man he killed, who shared his hopes.
Do this: Quote 'my friend'.
Usually costs: 2 marks
Mistake: Naming pararhyme without examples
Evidence needed.
Wrong working
The poem uses pararhyme.
Right working
hall/Hell, killed/cold.
Do this: Give two.
Usually costs: 1 mark
Exam tips
- Say 'it seemed' is a dream vision.
- Quote the pity of war line.
- Explain the enemy and friend paradox.
- Give two pararhymes.
- Mention the ellipsis at the end.
Practice questions on The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting)
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
The final line of the poem is: (a) 'Let us sleep now . . .' (b) 'I am the enemy' (c) 'Here is no cause to mourn' (d) 'Strange, friend'
Hint
An ellipsis.
Answer
(a)
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level
Who speaks the words 'Here is no cause to mourn'?
Hint
Not the dead man.
Answer
The speaker.
Q3 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
How does the dead man describe his own courage and wisdom? Answer in about 80 words.
Hint
Courage, mystery, wisdom, mastery.
Answer
He says 'Courage was mine, and I had mystery; Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery'. He would have used them to stand apart from the retreating world and wash the chariot-wheels with truths too deep for taint.
Q4 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
What does the dead man foresee for nations after the war?
Hint
Content or discontent.
Answer
Men will be content with what the war has spoiled or, discontented, will fight and die again, and nations will march swiftly away from progress.
Q5 · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Is Strange Meeting a poem of despair or of reconciliation? Argue from the text.
Hint
Hell, undone years, friend, sleep.
Answer
Despair: Hell and the undone years. Reconciliation: 'my friend' and 'Let us sleep now'. A balanced answer shows that peace comes only through death.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Who wrote the poem?Show answer
Wilfred Owen.
2.Where do they stand?Show answer
In Hell.
3.What is the 'truth untold'?Show answer
The pity of war.
4.What is the last line?Show answer
Let us sleep now . . .
5.Name a pararhyme.Show answer
hall/Hell.
The Enemy as Friend and the Pity of War (Strange Meeting): frequently asked questions
Which book has the poem?
Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems.
Who speaks the long speech?
The dead man, the enemy.
What is the theme?
The pity of war.