MY ANALYSIS OF ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

Michelle Blake

MY ANALYSIS OF ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

The first poem that I am to analyse is 'Anthem for Doomed Youth,' written by Wilfred Owen. This poem is a sonnet. It has fourteen lines. In this poem, the first and fourth lines rhyme, as do the second and third. The first stanza is mainly about the battlefield, whereas the second stanza is more about the feelings of friends and family back at home.

This poem starts off at a quick pace, and then slows down throughout the poem, drawing to a slow and sombre close. Throughout this poem the feel of a war style funeral is compared and contrasted to the ways in which men died in the war.

The title 'Anthem for Doomed Youth,' gives you a first impression of a sad poem. 'Anthem' is normally, and in my eyes a song that is sung in churches. The word 'Doomed' is used to suggest that the soldiers are alive but have an inevitable death, it symbolises death and conjures up the image that the soldiers are on a journey to hell. The word 'Youth' is used to remind the reader that these soldiers were only young men, with their whole lives ahead of them, but this has now been ruined.

The opening line 'What passing bells for these who die as cattle?' uses a simile to conjure up the image of a slaughterhouse. It creates the image of mass burials, as the 'cattle' are being slaughtered. It highlights the sacrifice that the soldiers gave. This opening line is a question to the reader in order to make them think more about the poem. The poem seems to give the reader a chance to step into a soldier's shoes in order to experience his feelings.. 'Only the monstrous anger of the guns' is the answer to this question. Through personification the guns responsible for taking so much human life are made out to be evil. The image that is created is that there is a mass of exploding shells. 'Guns' is a loud and rhythmic word, creating the impression that this war is angry, like a monster. 'Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle can patter out their hasty orisons,' are two lines that imply that instead of prayers, the soldiers received the firing of bullets. 'Stuttering' is an onomatopoei. Alliteration is used on the 'r' sounds to emphasise the sounds of destruction that were occurring.

'No mockeries…no prayers nor bells…nor choirs,' is the start of the fith line and tells the horrible way in which the soldiers leave the world and that instead of having a decent funeral these soldiers who have died fighting for their country received 'The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells and bugles.' 'Shrill' is a hard word that creates the image that the 'funeral' was not a quiet and peaceful way of saying goodbye to the soldiers. It creates a very piercing sound and is a harsh word. The word 'demented' is used to describe the shells. This conjures ...

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Additionally, the shells and bugles are described as 'wailing.' This is an onomatopoeia and a personification. This word portrays the image of sadness, perhaps that so many innocent men had lost their lives for no real reason. 'Sad shires' is an alliterative phrase that reminds the reader of the country, back at home. The word 'sad' suggests that it must be a devastating and traumatic time for their relatives and friends.

The next stanza begins with a rhetorical question to drive home how stupid the war was. 'What candles may be held to speed them all?' creates the impression that the soldiers are moving on to their next life.

The response is 'Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes,' implying that instead of a candle that would be lit at a traditional funeral to symbolise everlasting life, these soldiers received tears in the eyes of boys. The image I received from this is the misting up of boys' eyes and tears that are being shed. This image is very sad and depressing.

'Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes,' suggests that the relatives eyes are very meaningful as they see the dead soldiers off to their next lives. It has a sad meaning.

'The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall,' compares the cloth that would cover the coffin in a war style funeral to the pale complexion of relatives to the soldiers. This line suggests that the girls back at home have very pale, ashen, grief stricken faces. I imagine wives, girlfriends and other female relatives crying in despair when they hear the news. It conjures the image that groups of women all have tears streaming down their faces as they realise that their loved one has died in such a horrible way. It suggests the terrible effect that their tragic deaths has had on their relatives and the strong emotions they must be going through.

'Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,' compares the bright, colourful flowers that would be offered at the funeral to bereaved relatives and friends. It creates the image of people that are grieving and suffering as a result of the loss of the soldiers.

The final comparison is that of dusk to the drawing down blinds in a house in mourning. 'And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds,' creating the image that dusk is like a blind that is being lowered. The funeral is over and the rhetorical question that the poet asked at the beginning of the stanza has been answered. All is now quiet.

Throughout the poem the point that is emphasised is that the soldiers that died did not receive dignified endings and the battle still raged around them once they had been killed.

I feel Wilfred Owen showed people that war was not at all glamorous.

I actually preferred The Charge of The Light Brigade to this poem. This poem really made me sad and brought to me how terrible things must have been for these young men. It also made me realise that as we speak more and more soldiers are getting killed even now. All the wars that go on over the years and even now must be of a very similar nature. The war against Iraq and the many many soldiers that have all ready lost their lives to wars. These soildiers must have experienced what the soldiers in this poem experienced. Nothing has really changed.

You cannot disquise the noises that they hear, gun shot is gun shot and I feel that cannot be tamed down. Seeing people getting killed, it must be of the same experience. So yes, my preference is the charge of the light brigade, at least they got decent funerals compared to the soldiers in anthem for doomed youth.

In conclusion, I felt that Wilfred Owen captures the reality of the war in this very moving poem. By emphasising the number of deaths of the innocent he outlines the severity of the war. And I like the fact that because of his first hand experience, he wrote what this in a way that no other could, he wrote what he saw before him, in the eyes of his fellow men and soldiers.

He showed people that war was not at all glamorous like many pre twentieth century war poets had made it out to be. Wilfred Owen brought to light the truth. He was talking from his own experience so his poems have more of an impact.