ANTHEM FOR

DOOMED YOUTH
BY WILFRED OWEN
 POET
one of the most famous War Poets.
He was born on March 18th , 1893.
He joined the Army in 1915 as an
Officer in the Artists Rifles.
Wilfred Owen served in some of the
worst conditions during the following
months.
 THE WAR POETS
Poetry from the First World War was
written by soldiers who served at the
Western Front.
They saw the horrors of War first hand .
They wrote about what they really saw.
Their poems were published just after
the war, so they were not censored .
They are first hand and often unbiased
sources.
 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
 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.
 SUMMARY
This poem is specifically about the death
of a soldier and the notification of that
death to his family. This is the reality of
war. The word "anthem" has a few
different meanings, the one that seems
to be the most pertinent to this poem is:
an unusually rousing popular song that
typifies or is identified with a particular
subculture, movement, or point of view.
 Soldiers of World War I would
definitely identify with this poem;
no one else (i.e. civilians) could
understand everything that they
went through during the war. They
are fighting a war without knowing
the real reasons behind it. They
were often poorly equipped. They
are the doomed youth of their day.
 Owen fought in World War I and wrote
this poem while in a hospital recovering
from shell shock. Anthem for Doomed
Youth solemnly discusses death in war
and shows how those who die in war do
not receive the normal ceremonies that
are used to honor the dead. Owen was
able to express how he felt about those
who passed away while fighting in war,
and he successfully communicates a
moving message to his readers in
Anthem for Doomed Youth.
 TITLE
Anthem For Doomed Youth , Owen relates to
his audience how horrible going to war is.
The title of Owens poem is Anthem for
Doomed Youth. This meaningful title
conveys a strong, gloomy feeling; usually an
anthem is a joyous song of celebration but
when coupled with Doomed Youth, anthem
takes on a whole new meaning that implies
much sorrow. Also, Doomed Youth provides
a woeful impression because it foretells of
young people having no hope.
 STRUCTURE OF POEM
variation of the Elizabethan sonnet.
Owen has divided the fourteen lines
of this sonnet into two stanzas, the
break coming at the end of the line
8.
The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD
EFFE /GG
 LITERARY DEVICES
Irony
conventional function of a sonnet is
love but this poem is sort of anti-
love, because the young soldiers
have to spend their time in the
trenches. So, their lives are wasted
and, overall, the lives of their loved
ones at home are also ruined.
 Comparison
compares the events of war to traditional
burial rituals and describes how those who
die in war do not receive proper funerals. In
the first stanza, Owen references the
monstrous anger of guns to passing-bells
and rifles rapid rattle to hasty orisons.
Usually at funerals or ceremonies for the
dead there are bells ringing and prayers
being said, but Owen shows that in war there
are only the sounds of guns being fired. In
war, instead of honoring those who have
fallen, more are being killed by the same
weapons.
 Simile
Doomed Youth dying as cattle.
shows how awful war is. The
description depicts multitudes of
people being slaughtered and the
nature of war to be full of mass deaths.
The simile is showing how the soldiers
are no more important than cattle
which are lead to the slaughter without
feeling. Owen gives the sonnet a
powerful, negative connotation from
the very beginning.
 MESSAGE
After reading Anthem for Doomed
Youth the readers entire
perspective on war can be changed.
Owen paints the horror of war in
sensational manner that gets his
message across strikingly well.
Through his poem, Owen stirs up the
heart and greatly influences the
readers thoughts on war and those
who fight in it.