1. To what effect is structure used in this poem?
2. How is sound used to convey ideas?
By The45Girl
Introduction:
Wilfred Owen’s poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth, was written in Craiglockhart Hospital during 1917
where Owen was sent to recover shellshock. In the poem, the speaker observes the commemoration
of dead soldiers during World War One in Britain. Through techniques such as diction, imagery and
tone, Owen explores the themes of the unfairness of the soldiers’ experiences and the never-ending
impacts on their loved ones.
Idea I: Unfairness, lack of dignity even in death
Topic sentence: First, Owen criticises the unfairness of the soldiers’ experiences and the lack of
dignity they are given, even in death.
“Anthem for Doomed Youth”: anthem evokes sense of unity and are usually happy
declarations of unity but Owen writes a sad elegy emphasising that the soldiers will die. The
soldiers are but young men whose lives are being taken away hence doomed youth
unfair. Title contrasts cheerful, patriotic anthems with reality of war.
1st stanza opens with a question, “What passing bells for these that die as cattle?”
- Use of the words “passing bells” suggests commemoration of the dead.
- Any ideas of a dignified remembrance dispelled in the reader’s mind by the word
“these”, which suggests that they have been dehumanised and are just indistinguishable
entities.
- Simile (“like cattle”). Owen is saying that the soldiers have been treated as if they were
animals (this is lack of dignity). The word, “cattle”, suggests that they have been
destined to be slaughtered. This implies wrongdoing by those who sent them to their
slaughter.
That first question “what passing bells for these that die as cattle” is not a rhetorical
question; it is hypophora because Owen answers it with “Only the monstrous anger of the
guns”. The word “only” emphasises that the only commemoration the soldiers receive upon
death is the monstrous anger of the guns (chaos of battlefield) and this personification
causes the reader to feel indignant that the soldiers are not being commemorated in a
solemn, honourable way. Similarly, “only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle”; repetition of
“only”, soldiers do not get what they deserve.
Unfairness continues. 4th line describes prayers for the dead as “hasty orisons”, implying that
these are done perfunctorily, without any real affection or grief. “Patter out their hasty
orisons”: patter is onomatopoeia & is a constant, light, tapping sound; prayers are said
regularly without feeling or care.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
- Parallelism shows that prayers and bells are the mockeries.
- Owen thinks these prayers are not enough. The real Christian thing to do was to not
encourage these youth to go to war in the first place.
- Diction: “no, nor” highlights the soldiers are not receiving what they deserve.
1st stanza’s tone is angry and bitter, highlights unfairness of war.
- Diction: stuttering, cattle, anger
- Pararhyme (guns and orisons) causes discomfort -> reader questions war.
- Imagery (oxymoron): “shrill, demented choirs” creates disturbing image of war,
discordant sound.
2. How is sound used to convey ideas?
By The45Girl
Introduction:
Wilfred Owen’s poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth, was written in Craiglockhart Hospital during 1917
where Owen was sent to recover shellshock. In the poem, the speaker observes the commemoration
of dead soldiers during World War One in Britain. Through techniques such as diction, imagery and
tone, Owen explores the themes of the unfairness of the soldiers’ experiences and the never-ending
impacts on their loved ones.
Idea I: Unfairness, lack of dignity even in death
Topic sentence: First, Owen criticises the unfairness of the soldiers’ experiences and the lack of
dignity they are given, even in death.
“Anthem for Doomed Youth”: anthem evokes sense of unity and are usually happy
declarations of unity but Owen writes a sad elegy emphasising that the soldiers will die. The
soldiers are but young men whose lives are being taken away hence doomed youth
unfair. Title contrasts cheerful, patriotic anthems with reality of war.
1st stanza opens with a question, “What passing bells for these that die as cattle?”
- Use of the words “passing bells” suggests commemoration of the dead.
- Any ideas of a dignified remembrance dispelled in the reader’s mind by the word
“these”, which suggests that they have been dehumanised and are just indistinguishable
entities.
- Simile (“like cattle”). Owen is saying that the soldiers have been treated as if they were
animals (this is lack of dignity). The word, “cattle”, suggests that they have been
destined to be slaughtered. This implies wrongdoing by those who sent them to their
slaughter.
That first question “what passing bells for these that die as cattle” is not a rhetorical
question; it is hypophora because Owen answers it with “Only the monstrous anger of the
guns”. The word “only” emphasises that the only commemoration the soldiers receive upon
death is the monstrous anger of the guns (chaos of battlefield) and this personification
causes the reader to feel indignant that the soldiers are not being commemorated in a
solemn, honourable way. Similarly, “only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle”; repetition of
“only”, soldiers do not get what they deserve.
Unfairness continues. 4th line describes prayers for the dead as “hasty orisons”, implying that
these are done perfunctorily, without any real affection or grief. “Patter out their hasty
orisons”: patter is onomatopoeia & is a constant, light, tapping sound; prayers are said
regularly without feeling or care.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
- Parallelism shows that prayers and bells are the mockeries.
- Owen thinks these prayers are not enough. The real Christian thing to do was to not
encourage these youth to go to war in the first place.
- Diction: “no, nor” highlights the soldiers are not receiving what they deserve.
1st stanza’s tone is angry and bitter, highlights unfairness of war.
- Diction: stuttering, cattle, anger
- Pararhyme (guns and orisons) causes discomfort -> reader questions war.
- Imagery (oxymoron): “shrill, demented choirs” creates disturbing image of war,
discordant sound.
