The Last Laugh - Wilfred Owen
‘O Jesus Christ! I’m hit,’ he said; and died.
Whether he vainly cursed or prayed indeed,
The Bullets chirped—In vain, vain, vain!
Machine-guns chuckled—Tut-tut! Tut-tut!
And the Big Gun guffawed.
Another sighed,—‘O Mother,—mother,—Dad!’
Then smiled at nothing, childlike, being dead.
And the lofty Shrapnel-cloud
Leisurely gestured,—Fool!
And the splinters spat, and tittered.
‘My Love!’ one moaned. Love-languid seemed his mood,
Till slowly lowered, his whole face kissed the mud.
And the Bayonets’ long teeth grinned;
Rabbles of Shells hooted and groaned;
And the Gas hissed.
And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, another, at, bayonets, being, big, bullets, childlike, chirped, christ, chuckled, cursed, dad, dead, died, faced, gas, gestured, fool, grinned, groaned, guffawed, gun, he, he, his, his, hissed, hit, hooted, I'm, in, indeed, Jesus, kissed, leisurely, lofty, long, love, love-languid, lowered, machine-guns, moaned, mood, mother, mother, mud, my, nothing, o, of, oh, one, or, prayed, rabbles, said, seemed, shells, shrapnel-cloud, sighed, slowly, smiled, spat, splinters, teeth, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, then, till, tittered, tut-tut, tut-tut, vain vain, vainly, whether, whole.
Wilfred Owen 1983 - 1918
- Born in Shropshire, England in 1893.
- Initially tried out poetry when he was young.
- Worked as an assistant to a Reverend.
- Taught English in France until 1915, when he returned to England and joined the army.
- In 1917 he had a terrible time in the trenches: he had to hold a flooded dug out in 'no mans land' for 50 hours whilst being bombed and shot at.
- He was then eventually sent to a military hospital in England because he was suffering from shell shock.
- This is where he met Siegfried Sassoon (another famous poet) who encouraged him to continue and develop his poetry.
- He wrote many of his most famous poems in hospital, or soon afterwards.
- He returned to war in France in 1918 and died on the 4th of November.
- His parents were informed of the news of his death on the day of the armistice – the day the war ended.
Look at the words from the poem and answer the questions on the worksheet