Wilfred Owen wrote most of his poems between August 1917 and September 1918, including his “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, while at Craiglockhart Hospital recovering from shell shock. His “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, initially titled “Anthem for Dead Youth”, compares proper burial rites with burial at war. With the comments of Siegfried Sassoon, Owen laments the deaths of young soldiers and rejects the unnecessary religious rites in the short fourteen line poem. In the first stanza, he focuses on the sounds of war, including “the rifles’ rattle” and the “wailing shells”. He concludes by comparing the “candles”, “pall”, “flowers”, and “drawing blinds” to the reality of death on the front.
Owen wrote “Anthem for Doomed Youth” as a hybrid sonnet, drawing inspiration from Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets. As in the fourteen-line Petrarchan sonnet, the poem is broken into an octet and sestet. However, instead of the Petrarchan rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDECDE, Owen uses the Shakespearean rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD for the octet and EFFE GG for the sestet.
Owen wrote the majority …show more content…
In the octet, Owen describes the war and compares death on the front to burial rites at home. Owen begins the octet with the question, “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” (Line 1). This translates to “What sounds mark the death of soldiers?” In many Christian towns, the ringing of the passing-bells announced a death and called the people to mourn. Owen uses this religious imagery to set up his comparisons between religious burial rites at home and burial during war. By using “these” instead of “those”, Owen eliminates the distance of the soldiers and brings the reader to the battlefield. “As cattle” indicates that the soldiers are killed in masses like herds of cattle, showing that the soldiers are as expendable as animals. It can also be inferred that the men are “slaughtered” by the guns, showing the inhumane acts of
Owen wrote “Anthem for Doomed Youth” as a hybrid sonnet, drawing inspiration from Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets. As in the fourteen-line Petrarchan sonnet, the poem is broken into an octet and sestet. However, instead of the Petrarchan rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDECDE, Owen uses the Shakespearean rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD for the octet and EFFE GG for the sestet.
Owen wrote the majority …show more content…
In the octet, Owen describes the war and compares death on the front to burial rites at home. Owen begins the octet with the question, “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” (Line 1). This translates to “What sounds mark the death of soldiers?” In many Christian towns, the ringing of the passing-bells announced a death and called the people to mourn. Owen uses this religious imagery to set up his comparisons between religious burial rites at home and burial during war. By using “these” instead of “those”, Owen eliminates the distance of the soldiers and brings the reader to the battlefield. “As cattle” indicates that the soldiers are killed in masses like herds of cattle, showing that the soldiers are as expendable as animals. It can also be inferred that the men are “slaughtered” by the guns, showing the inhumane acts of