Anthem For Doomed Youth
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
"Anthem for Doomed Youth" was written between September and October 1917, while Wilfred Owen was in hospital trying to recover from shell shock. I think that Wilfred Owen is the one telling this poem from the experience he had watching kids die, because of a war. He is trying to communicate his message to people who don't know that much about the horrors of a war. The poem is depicting a scene, where there is a war, and because they're using dangerous weapons to fight, children are getting murdered in the process. And, there is nothing that can save these kids. It's just happening. The poem is in a very sad, concerned and this is how cruel life can be, kind of tone.
Wilfred Owen has used imagery to portray this scenario that not many people think about. Two examples of abstract imagery would be " ... monstrous anger of the guns", it is able to describe the power of guns in a very dark way, because of "monstrous" and that they are in a war to kill. "... stuttering rifles' rapid rattle" in this, guns are also shown to very dangerous and it stresses the point that they are no toys. One concrete imagery in this poem is "... patter out their hasty orisons.", rushed prayers will not be able to save the children from dying in a war. Imagery helped out this poem a lot.
It is very important that the theme of this poem gets through to the reader, because it has a significant message. War usually happen, because of some dispute and they assume that violence will solve the problem in the end. After a war, one party is the victor and everyone else has to comply to their terms. We build memorials for the fallen soldiers that helped get us our freedoms, but we forget about those innocent children who were dragged into all this mess for no reason. They didn't deserve that miserable life, where they are trying hard not to get killed by somebody programmed to kill. That's why it's called "Anthem for Doomed Youth".
A variety of figurative language was used in this beautiful masterpiece. A metaphor that was used was "The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells And bugles calling for them from sad shires.", it's comparing a choir to crying shells and bugles (trumpets) actually calling them. One of the similes was " What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?", it is comparing the children who are dying, to cattles that are dying. Personification is used in the following: "Only the monstrous anger of the guns." it is describing guns as monstrous and therefore giving it a characteristic. " And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.", this is a Metonymy, because instead of just writing "And each slow death.", death is replaced with "slow dusk of drawing-down of blinds". This were all used to help sink in the important message about war.
"Anthem of Doomed Youth" is composed of different types of sentences. Sentences are shorter to help stress key words, like the shortest sentence: "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? " the sentence is shorter to help you concentrate more on passing-bells and children dying as cattle. Longer sentences are there to express more complex ideas, for example: " No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires." This explains that they will no longer be mocked, because they're dead, prayers, bells, and choirs can't save them and choirs and bugles (trumpets) are playing for them in Shires (a part of England), where everyone is sad about their deaths. This poems contains both active and passive sentences. Passive sentences such as: " Only the monstrous anger of the guns.", the predict came before the subject, but it is more figurative and some times more deep "thought-ed". They help get the reader to think more. Active sentences, can help to easily direct the subject doing the action and so the message in the poem is a bit easier to understand. Like; " No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires." I think that most of the sentences are about 2 feet syllables: "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" Different types of sentences make up "Anthem for Doomed Youth".
In the end, "Anthem of Doomed Youth" carries out a very important message. The tone is able to help the reader imagine the reality about war. War from a different perspective. Wilfred Owen uses abstract and literal imagery to depict the innocence of children. The theme is supported all the time. Other words could not have said it better. Sentences were used in the right form. It all comes down to, war murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent children, just because adults cannot think.
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
"Anthem for Doomed Youth" was written between September and October 1917, while Wilfred Owen was in hospital trying to recover from shell shock. I think that Wilfred Owen is the one telling this poem from the experience he had watching kids die, because of a war. He is trying to communicate his message to people who don't know that much about the horrors of a war. The poem is depicting a scene, where there is a war, and because they're using dangerous weapons to fight, children are getting murdered in the process. And, there is nothing that can save these kids. It's just happening. The poem is in a very sad, concerned and this is how cruel life can be, kind of tone.
Wilfred Owen has used imagery to portray this scenario that not many people think about. Two examples of abstract imagery would be " ... monstrous anger of the guns", it is able to describe the power of guns in a very dark way, because of "monstrous" and that they are in a war to kill. "... stuttering rifles' rapid rattle" in this, guns are also shown to very dangerous and it stresses the point that they are no toys. One concrete imagery in this poem is "... patter out their hasty orisons.", rushed prayers will not be able to save the children from dying in a war. Imagery helped out this poem a lot.
It is very important that the theme of this poem gets through to the reader, because it has a significant message. War usually happen, because of some dispute and they assume that violence will solve the problem in the end. After a war, one party is the victor and everyone else has to comply to their terms. We build memorials for the fallen soldiers that helped get us our freedoms, but we forget about those innocent children who were dragged into all this mess for no reason. They didn't deserve that miserable life, where they are trying hard not to get killed by somebody programmed to kill. That's why it's called "Anthem for Doomed Youth".
A variety of figurative language was used in this beautiful masterpiece. A metaphor that was used was "The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells And bugles calling for them from sad shires.", it's comparing a choir to crying shells and bugles (trumpets) actually calling them. One of the similes was " What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?", it is comparing the children who are dying, to cattles that are dying. Personification is used in the following: "Only the monstrous anger of the guns." it is describing guns as monstrous and therefore giving it a characteristic. " And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.", this is a Metonymy, because instead of just writing "And each slow death.", death is replaced with "slow dusk of drawing-down of blinds". This were all used to help sink in the important message about war.
"Anthem of Doomed Youth" is composed of different types of sentences. Sentences are shorter to help stress key words, like the shortest sentence: "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? " the sentence is shorter to help you concentrate more on passing-bells and children dying as cattle. Longer sentences are there to express more complex ideas, for example: " No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires." This explains that they will no longer be mocked, because they're dead, prayers, bells, and choirs can't save them and choirs and bugles (trumpets) are playing for them in Shires (a part of England), where everyone is sad about their deaths. This poems contains both active and passive sentences. Passive sentences such as: " Only the monstrous anger of the guns.", the predict came before the subject, but it is more figurative and some times more deep "thought-ed". They help get the reader to think more. Active sentences, can help to easily direct the subject doing the action and so the message in the poem is a bit easier to understand. Like; " No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires." I think that most of the sentences are about 2 feet syllables: "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" Different types of sentences make up "Anthem for Doomed Youth".
In the end, "Anthem of Doomed Youth" carries out a very important message. The tone is able to help the reader imagine the reality about war. War from a different perspective. Wilfred Owen uses abstract and literal imagery to depict the innocence of children. The theme is supported all the time. Other words could not have said it better. Sentences were used in the right form. It all comes down to, war murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent children, just because adults cannot think.