Analysis Of Owen 's Poem ' Anthem For Doomed Youth '

A comparison of poems by Wilfred Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth” Wilfred Owen fought in the ww1. He enrolled into army at an early age which was probably influenced by the government’s enticing and false advertising. However in the trenches Owen soon discovered the reality of war and how horrific the war was. At first he started to take notes about the conditions. Then later in a military hospital he edited and turned these notes into poetry.

From another perspective, the simile in the line further indicates that the soldiers had also lost their human rights, not to mention their basic funeral rights. The soldiers had been brutally slaughtered like cows. This hints at the extreme brutality and savagery of the war. Pointing out this fact, Owen reveals his dismay about the reality of war. In conclusion, using the rhetorical question and simile, he portrays the war as a place, where innocent youths are being wasted and discarded. He implies his negative and skeptical perspective on this aspect of

Owen similarly guides the tone of his writing very carefully, choosing the perfect words and punctuation to emphasize or stress certain aspects that he had in mind to be expressed. Owen also tries to give the poem a serious tone to it by exclaiming, Gas! Gas! Quick boys! But someone still was yelling out and stumbling As under a green sea, I saw him drowning (Gioia 782). He wants the reader to understand what serious obstacles the soldiers had to suffer through. War really was a time of pain and grief, not of glory. This idea is seen in Owens overall style of writing. He is rather honest and blunt about wartime. Basically, he wants his audience to feel the pain of what soldiers of any war had to go through. His final words are, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori. (Gioia 783). The translation of those words says, It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country. He just wants everyone to know that it is in deed a lie to believe that war and dying for ones country should be rewarded and glorified.

The loss of innocence is an evident yet bitter theme in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. The group of young men, introduced at the beginning of the book, had no idea of the hardships and brutalities of war that come. Following their disclosure to battle and the front, the boys instantaneously become men. They are no longer naive and innocent. The theme is also shown with the protagonist, Krebs, in the short story “Soldier’s Home.” Krebs is home on leave, and does not have passion for life anymore. This saddening topic is also shown in the poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” All three of these works of literature have the same surreal and sorrowful characteristics, that dismally happens to many young men.

Owen paints a picture of the oppressiveness of war and the fears that constantly follow them to help create the tone. Owen talks about the repercussions of war and how the soldiers never rest completely because they are always on the lookout for another attack. Once optimistic, young, healthy soldiers have been turned into depressed, fatigued, and hunger ridden shells of the human beings they once were (Spacey). By comparing parts the war to “smothering dreams” and to being as “obscene as cancer” (Owen 494), Owen proves that the war is not anything of which to be proud. However, it is in the last few lines that Owen truly expresses his disapproval of the war. He says it is a lie to tell children that it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country. He accuses America for taking advantage of young men who are “ardent for some desperate glory” (Owen 494) by convincing them that war is a way to receive that glory. Owen

The author of “Anthem for Doomed Youth” leads his reader through his personal struggle and frustration of war. Owen has an abrasive approach when describing the death all around him and clearly expresses his anger with the “hasty orisons” for the dead. He speaks directly of battlefront in the first octet and then includes the home front in the second half of his sonnet. Owen’s purpose is not a commemoration of fallen soldiers. Rather, he divulges the disgust and disappointment of war. Like McCrae, Wilfred Owen paints a picture of the multitude of deaths. Back at the home front, “…each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.” We can construe that the author is not simply talking about preparing for bed in the evening, but rather lowering the blinds in a room where yet another dead soldier lies, as an indication to the community and out of respect for the soldier. There is a lack of “passing-bells for these who die as cattle….no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs.” Owen writes as though he feels that there is indifference among the death of his fellow soldiers.

Wilfred Owen exhibits dehumanisation at an early stage in the poem 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'. The first line already connotes such idea, "What passing bells for these who die as cattle?" This metaphor represents the soldiers as cattle for they are slaughtered like cows, and at a much too young age. Dehumanisation is also indicated through the improper celebratory send-off they receive after death, where there is a lack of appropriate commemoration. "No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells". These factors demean the value of the young lives lost, therefore showing dehumanisation.

One is to think of war as one of the most honorable and noble services that a man can attend to for his country, it is seen as one of the most heroic ways to die for the best cause. The idea of this is stripped down and made a complete mockery of throughout both of Wilfred Owen’s poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. Through his use of quickly shifting tones, horrific descriptive and emotive language and paradoxical metaphors, Owen contradicts the use of war and amount of glamour given towards the idea of it.

Owen personifies death, giving him readily identifiable human characteristics as spitting and coughing, but in a way that accords with the gruesome nature of death since he spits “bullets” and coughs “shrapnel.” What is really striking is that the soldiers welcome death's claim of their lives; they “chorused if he sang aloft” and “whistled while he shaved [them] with his scythe.” Although evoking the death-as-a-reaper conceptualization,

Wilfred Owen's war poems central features include the wastage involved with war, horrors of war and the physical effects of war. These features are seen in the poems "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth" here Owen engages with the reader appealing to the readers empathy that is felt towards the soldier. These poems interact to explore the experiences of the soldiers on the battlefields including the realities of using gas as a weapon in war and help to highlight the incorrect glorification of war. This continuous interaction invites the reader to connect with the poems to develop a more thorough

Yn3london. "Arms and the Boy, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility Comparison." Free Document Yn3London. BigNerds, 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 04 May 2013.

Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and

In majority of Owen’s poem, he demonstrates the true image of war and the impact it has on the soldiers rather than masking it with the lies of pride

War is not heroic. War is sickness, struggle, and death. This is the message that poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen wanted to instill in his people back home. Those back home talked of glory and national pride and rooted for their soldiers, however, they were unaware of the horrors these soldiers witnessed and experienced. The soldiers and their people back home were not only separated by distance but by mental barriers, which Owen showcases in his poetry. Owen’s use of personification in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” degrades the soldiers to objects to show how the war dehumanized them to intentionally create a disconnect between the audience and the soldiers.

The very title that Wilfred Owen chose for his war poem, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth ' is an apt representation of what he wanted the poem to encapsulate and the emotions he wanted to evoke in the readers. The word 'anthem ' and 'doomed youth ' is a stark juxtaposition when placed in the same sentence. An anthem is supposed to be something revered, something that represents the glory of a country and is bursting with national pride. However, when placed right before the words 'doomed youth ' we get the impression that Owen is indirectly trying to question the glory and honour that most associate with war. Is it really right that we would strip youth of their lives, their dignity and their future on the