Anthem for Doomed Youth
Wilfred Owen writes his poems from a personal experience on the frontline of World War 1 and captures the reader’s attention by drawing them into the life of a soldier. He sought to reveal to those not directly involved in the war, the horror and brutality being experienced, with an aim to create awareness to put an end to all wars. He draws his readers into the world of poetry through descriptive languages and poetic devices that describe his personal experiences. In the poem ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’ he captures the misery of war and the sorrow experienced by those at home as a consequence of the vastness of the fatalities. He questions the deaths of the soldiers and suggests that none will be spared and their sacrifice goes unnoticed leading to further horror.
The purpose of this poem is to show the detrimental effect that war has on the society, because all who go to war are “doomed” and die dishonourable deaths.
Owen shows this in many ways, but firstly by using the rhetorical question, “What passing – bells for these who dies as cattle” to show that the youth of the generation have not been farewelled properly, but rather have been led to the slaughter in great numbers and have not being spared.
The use of onomatopoeic, ‘stuttering, patter, shrill, wailing’ creates the sound of the battlefield, which emphasises the echoes of “monstrous anger of the guns”. This personification of the guns illustrates the futility and the brutality that is occurring on the frontline. The alliterative, “rifles’ rapid rattle” imitate the onomatopoeic sounds of gunfire and the echoes of war; are juxtaposed by the sombre tone of the “hasty orisons” that are the only farewell given. “The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells” contrasts the choirs of funerals to the sound of unholy ‘wailing shells’ this personification is effective in that even the