The first stanza of the poem - the ‘octave’- makes the comparison between the funeral the fallen in battle deserve and the funeral the limitations of being on the front line give them. His disgust and pity towards the unreasonable loss of lives is expressed without hesitation throughout the poem. He begins by rhetorically asking the reader, “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” which raises the issue that there is no funeral knell to mark the deaths of the soldiers. The question takes an important turn before it finishes, turning the mind away from church and into war where “these die as cattle” implying that they were mass slaughtered, killed inhumanly. Through the use of ‘these’ the soldiers are dehumanised and have no identity showing the effects of war on the young soldiers. Mass murder is also seen in Mental Cases where Owen states, “Carnage incomparable and human squander” showing the extent of the deaths as well as the pointless destruction where ‘carnage’ emphasises the animalistic way in which men were killed. A similar use of rhetorical questioning is seen through, “What candles may be held to speed them all?” referring to the ‘candles’ lit in the church ceremonies in which the youths’ souls are ‘speeded’ off to heaven. Instead of candles lit in the soldiers’ memory, they must make do with the flicker of grief shown in their comrades’ eyes. This depicts the youth dying an animalistic death without glory and respect since they have no authentic funeral. They are simply left in no man’s land and we see that the youths’ souls can never be at peace since they have suffered so much degradation throughout the warfare.
We hear the ‘monstrous anger of the guns’ and the ‘stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle’ where the ‘guns’ are personified as ‘monstrous’ showing the total role reversal of mankind and weaponry. Personification is also shown by the ‘stuttering rifles’ which presents to us an image of the weapons being more significant than the young soldiers just like the war being more important that the loss of numerous lives, further disgracing the youth. This inversion of important values is also seen in Arms and the Boys where Owen states, “...keen with hunger of blood;” The blade is described in an uncompassionate and animalistic way as it craves for blood reflecting that it has hideous tendencies hence it is personified in a monstrous way. The use of onomatopoeia such as ‘stuttering’ and ‘rattle’ emphasises the echo of a machine-gun as it spits out an unrelenting hail of bullets. The use of personification and onomatopoeia gives the weaponry such human qualities that the youthful soldiers are humiliated since they are presented as having a lower status to life-taking warheads.
Owen also uses alliteration: ‘rifles’ rapid rattle’ with the repeated ‘r’ sounds to further highlight the inevitability of death of the youth on the Western Front and also to ironically demonstrate the obscene haste of the ‘prayers’ at the burial. Alliteration is also seen in'sad shires' reminding 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 nearest these men will come to hearing hymns sang at their funerals are ‘The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells.’ Owen’s choice of the word ‘demented’ expresses his view of the insanity of war. The next two lines of the poem are trying to make the reader express their sympathy by using words such as ‘prayers’, ‘mourning’ and ‘save’ as they set the scene of a funeral, making the reader feel infuriated as there were so many unnecessary deaths. The use of a present participle, “wailing” shows the incessant torrent of shells although it is ironic that the cause of the death of countless soldiers is also mourning for the dead. Hence, we see the young presented as so insignificant that they cannot even afford proper funeral rites and therefore their souls cannot be at peace even in the afterlife.
The second stanza – the ‘sestet’ – develops this initial theme to the effect the death and undignified burial has on comrades and loved-ones. This is further emphasised by the two stanzas having a different rhyme scheme. The ‘sestet’ makes a sudden change in setting, taking the reader back to the homes of their families and the tone changes from harsh anger driven to a sudden quietness, carefully contrasting the two settings, yet the sense of pathos still continues. We see the exploitation of innocence of the youth through 'Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes,' implying that as opposed to a candle that would be lit at a traditional funeral to symbolise everlasting life, these soldiers received tears in the eyes of boys. The emphasis on the innocence of these young soldiers is again perceived in Arms and the Boy where Owen asserts, “Let the boy try along this bayonet blade.” The use of the word ‘try’ highlights the innocence of the youth as they are merely experimenting and are unaccustomed to using such dangerous weaponry. The use of the word ‘holy’ suggests that there is some relationship to religion. There have also been more religious ideas brought up the poem using words such as ‘prayers’ and ‘choirs’. This has been used emphasise the fact that there has been no real funeral for the dead soldiers and despite that, they should still be remembered. Owen has used religious aspects to give the young soldiers who did not get a proper funeral their only real burial although their souls are still not at peace showing that the youth cannot even find salvation in religion.
The contrast of the conventional funeral service and the actual service these ‘boys’ receives is shown through, 'The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall,' which compares the elaborate cloth that would cover the coffin in a Victorian 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 bringing the reader back to reality as they realise that it can affect those at home as well as the soldiers that are actually fighting. This is also seen through,'their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,' emphasising the image of people that are grieving and suffering as a result of the loss of their friend. This funeral highlights the distance between funerals on the Western Front and their relatives back at home. For Owen, there would be no revivals, no encores; the war that witnessed nearly ten million deaths had wrung out of him all belief in the hereafter: ‘And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.’ The harsh consonantal attack of‘d’ sounds in the sentence stress the closure as if the final curtain in a play. The emphasis on the finality reminds the reader of death and the use of ‘dusk’ highlights the fact that this is a repeated daily chore on the battlefield presenting to the reader the incessant and numerous youths that lost their lives on the Western Front.
Throughout the poem the point that is emphasised is that the youthful soldiers that died on the Western Front did not receive dignified endings and even in death, battle still raged around them. Additionally, we see that each soldier will not be remembered because they are one in so many that have no elaborate funeral. The youth are dehumanised, demoralised and made insignificant by the weaponry that dominated the war and we experience their vicious nature throughout Owen’s poems and the dismay they brought upon the youth that fought in the war.