English Literature - Poems - Anthem for Doomed Youth - Revision Cards in GCSE English Literature

Anthem for Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen - Quotes

"What passing-bells for those who die as cattle?" + "no prayers nor bells, nor any voice of mourning save the choirs"- Owen states that soldiers' deaths are utterly disregarded and they recieve no suitable send-off. - ("passing-bells" = bells sounded at funerals)

"die as cattle" - This simile makes the soldiers seem worthless. It represents the magnitude of the fallen given that cattle are usually killed off in large numbers. It also hints toward the idea that men are bread to be soldiers and to fight/die for their country, just as cattle are bred to be killed and eaten. - The use of animal symbolism dehumanises the soldiers, emphasising how they are treated with such little regard. - This simile also enforces the idea of unnecessary slaughter.

"Only" - (repeated) - Emphasises the lack of commemoration for the soldiers.

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"Only the monsterous anger of the guns." - Personification enhances the atrocities of the war.

"Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle" - Onomatopoeia of "stutter" and "rattle" create vivid imagery, allowing the reader to sympathise with the soldiers. It also practically personifies the war which stands out juxtaposed with the dehumanisation of the soldiers. This portrays war as a horrific monster ("monsterous anger of the guns") that simply demolishes all that involves itself with it.

"patter out their hasty orisons" - (orisons = prayers) - Use of the adjective "hasty" may imply that these soldiers have not been particularly religious in the past yet are hurriedly trying to redeem themselves as it's their last hope. - This phrases may also imply that the soldiers have nothing left to hold on to apart from their faith and they thus cling to it in their final moments. Use of the verb "patter" suggests that Owen views this practice as meaningless as perhaps they have no chance of being saved.

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"The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; and bugles calling for them from sad shires." - Describing the choirs of shells as "shill", "demented" and "wailing" connotes the pain that the soldiers were subjected to. "Demented" and "wailing" may be representative of issues with things such as PTSD and grief of loved ones. - Describing the shells as choirs suggests that they take the place of a church choir in a funeral, emphasising how there was a great lack of commemeration for the fallen soldiers. - (shires = counties) - "Sad shires" shows how grief for the soldiers was wide spread and shows the magnitude of the fallen.

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Note: Whereas the first stanza focuses greatly on the horrors within the war, using harsh, violent imagery to depict the attrocity of it, the second stanza contrasts greatly with this in that it uses far softer imagery and also less plosive sounds (t/p - stuttering, rapid, rattle etc.) in describing the normal life of those outside the war. This brings out the contrast between war and normal life, showing the abnormality of war yet also how 'normal' life has simply ceased to be so.

"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 goodbyes" - Candles are not held as they commonly would be at a funeral service yet are substitited by the "glimmers" in the eyes of the "boys". These glimmers are tears, showing what a terrible tradegy the war was. - "Boys" as opposed to men suggests they were too young to have been subjected to this.

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"The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall" - ("pallor" = paleness) ("pall" = funeral cloth that is laid over the coffin) - The "girls" may refer to the widowers of the soldiers. That their brows are pale shows that they may be afraid to live life without their loved ones and again shows how war has a dramatically wide-spread impact, affecting not only the soldiers themselves but anyone who knew them. - Use of the noun "pallor" brings a greater focus onto death as it is commonly associated with the paleness of a person succeding death.

"Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds" - The flowers that should have been laid on the soldiers graves are substituted with the love of the widowers that had waited for their loved ones to return. They are given no suitable send-off.

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"each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds" - Toward the end of the poem, Owen uses slow vowel sounds perhaps suggesting that life as a soldier was medial, slow and pointless. It seems as though Owen feels that the reasoning behind the war could not justify the countless deaths and that the war is a horrific waste of human life. - This phrase also highlights how the poet now views death as an inevitability, stating that each day more and more soldiers die or (to paraphrase) "draw down their blinds". This phrase therefore normalises mouring and gives the impression that this is not the first, second, nor last time that such mourning will be carried out.

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