In the first stanza of both poems the soldiers are depersonalised. Owen does this by referring to the soldiers as ‘those’ or ‘their’. Stewart constantly talks about ‘him’ implying that to the generals and to the people in charge the man who had been killed was not an actual person; he was just another dead soldier.
This makes the reader feel angry as the soldiers were fighting to keep everyone safe and at the very least should have been given complete respect.
Additionally, in both poems, the repeated use of ‘No’ shows that although the soldiers should have been appreciated and their death mourned but none of their family or friends were around to bury them with the love and respect they deserved. Both poems also have words that usually represent funerals, such as ‘flower’ and ‘prayers’ showing that the soldiers were not buried in a dignified form.
The reader feels disgust towards the people who treated the soldiers so carelessly and sympathy towards the young men and their families.
Furthermore the connotations of the word ‘winter’ in War Grave are negative, being bleakness and death show that the soldiers were not happy and were not having an easy time, death tolls were high and they were treated badly. In Anthem for Doomed Youth the connotations of ‘wailing’ are sadness and utter heartbreak also emphasizing how bad the conditions were for the soldiers.
As a reader I feel pity towards the soldiers as most of them were just young men wanting to do the right thing for their country.
The idea of the soldiers being mistreated is emphasized in the last line of the first stanza of War Grave. The word choice of ‘threw’ tells the reader that the soldier was not considered important.
The reader feels angry that the people who are fighting to save the country are not been given the respect they deserve.
In the second stanza of both poems it becomes evident that the soldiers do have people at home who care about them. This is clear from ‘Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds’ from Anthem for Doomed Youth talking about the girls at home and ‘Through the long waiting night’ from War Grave showing that people are waiting for the soldiers to return.
As a reader I feel saddened by this as so many lives were ruined because of the war, not just the soldiers themselves but their family and friends.
However, there are a few differences between Anthem for Doomed Youth and War Grave. During the second stanza of Anthem for Doomed Youth everything is viewed in a more positive light, even death. Whereas War Grave shows the effects on one person,
‘No arm to fold her.’
This shows the no one cared about the consequences for her. This is also emphasized by ‘His black and winter bed than hers no colder’ shows that they were both alone and her life was also over. The connotations of ‘black and winter’ are also bleak and negative, pointing towards death and the end of things.
As a reader I feel angry towards the army for not taking better care of the soldiers and the people left behind.
Also in Anthem for Doomed Youth there is little reference back to the first stanza but ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ does refer back to the title, whereas in War Grave Stewart repeats the line ‘In the cold crocus time’ which links back to the beginning of the poem and shows that not much time has passed between him dying, his improper funeral and telling his wife.
The reader feels sympathetic towards the people in the poem as no one seems to care about their welfare.
Anthem for Doomed Youth does not refer to anyone but the soldiers and their families, however throughout War Grave Stewart refers to ‘they’ at the end of the poem she finished with ‘They came and told her’. The abruptness of the sentence shows they lack emotion and implies coldness. By capitalising ‘They’ it shows that they were considered more important than the ordinary soldiers.
In Anthem for Doomed Youth, Owen makes a much bigger point about the age of the soldiers, in the title and in the second stanza with ‘boys ‘and then with ‘girls’. He also makes an issue of the guns being louder and worth more than the soldiers. This is shown by the personification on the guns in the first stanza. – ‘Only the monstrous anger of the guns.’ -
The final contrast between the poems is that Anthem for Doomed Youth was written from personal experience by Owen who was a soldier that fought and died in the war and War Grave is not.
‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘War Grave’ by Mary Stewart are two poems on the subject of war. There are similarities and differences between the two poems. Personally I find Anthem for Doomed Youth more effective as it was written from personal experience and makes more of the issue that the guns were considered more important than the individual soldiers, it also highlights the fact that most of the soldiers were young.
