How Does Wilfred Owen Use Juxtaposition In Anthem For Doomed Youth

How is the perception of war depicted by Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon similar and to what extend?

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

Siegfried Sassoon’s “They” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” depict disillusionment with religion justifying or romanticizing World War I. Both these poems express the authors’ frustrations that religion cannot justify the tragedies and consequences of the war. These frustrations are conveyed through tones of mocking and sarcasm, in addition to other methods. In “They” Sassoon creates a conversation between a Bishop and soldiers to express his frustration, while Owen uses sarcastic questions about rituals to express his. It is clear that both poems are disillusioned by religion justifying the war, however, they focus on the two different aspects of the church’s ignorance of incompetent clergy and empty rituals rather than commenting on religion and faith as a whole.

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.

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.

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

The poem by Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” the descriptive language used can give readers a view of how detrimental war is for young men. “Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -- The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells.” (Owen) This quote means that nothing can restore these men back to their original selves.

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.

Furthermore, Blake juxtaposes this to Tom’s dreams, where “down a green plain leaping, laughing they run” (14), where the connotations of the colour “green” conveys a sense of happiness and joy that is stereotypically associated with the connotations of childhood. However, the children eventually “rose in the dark” (21), where the noun “dark” indicates their gloomy reality. Therefore, Blake presents irony in that fact the magic of childhood as been destroyed and corrupted, ultimately highlighting the injustice that these children did not get to lead the lives that children should. In a like manner, Owen similarly employs juxtaposition to convey iron through the title of his poem itself, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. There is a contrast between

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.

Owen then talks about ‘half-known roads’ in the last stanza of the Send-off. As the soldiers that will return will be plagued with the memory of war, even forgetting the home town they grew up in. This shows how deeply soldiers are affected because of war. The Anthem of Doomed Youth also written by Wilfred Owen depicts the soldiers as cattle. This poem does not tell us how soldiers are affected after war but tells us how they are affected before the war in other words how they are patronised by these other war poems.

Whereby “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is with regards to the young soldiers who are being sent to wars in order to fulfill their national duties. W. Owen implies the idea that they are sent to wars with monstrous guns and yet they lose their lives in the battlefield, just like cattles in the slaughterhouse; strong but incapable of choosing their own destiny. It also brings up the idea of how these soldiers are viewed and paid back by their compatriots with no respect, recognition, nor remembrance, “No  mockeries now for them, no prayers nor bells; nor any voice of mourning” (5-6). Moreover, unlike the other poem, this poem does not use much of simile and metaphors but exploits  alliteration  for more that a few times, “Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle” (2), “ Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes [ ] Shall shine the glory glimmers of goodbyes.” (10-11). The tone of the narrator in this poem is solemn, sorrowful, and mournful towards the fallen soldiers of wars,  “each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Poems using strong poetic technique and devices are able to create a wide range of emotions from the readers. Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively uses these poetic techniques and devices to not only create unsettling images about war but to provide his opinion about war itself with the use of themes within his poem. The use of these themes explored Owen’s ideas on the futility of war and can be seen in the poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility and The Next War. The poems provide unsettling images and belief of war through the treatment of death, barbaric nature of war and the futility of war.

“Anthem For Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen helps us open up our thoughts to be able to look deeper into the meaning of how boys put their lives on the line to protect their country. The poem is 14 lines with themes of war, religion and death. In just two stanzas there is a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD EFFEGG that is seen. The first stanza represents the octave and the second stanza represents the sestet. Owen’s poem in the form of a sonnet puts the volta going from the first to second stanza by connecting the battlefield to back home. Owen puts the poem together by having similes, repetition and comparisons.

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