Within the atmospheric poem, “Anthem for Doom Youth” by popular war poet Wilfred Owen, the harsh and melancholic nature of war is fully exposed. Owen makes excellent use of language, from and structure to further retell the horrors of war.
Owen makes use of structural devices to even highlight the damaging context of war, “Anthem” the is a 14 line poem into two stanzas, the rhyme scheme differs slightly from a Petrarchan sonnet (ABABCDCDEFEFGG) however this is ironic as the general theme of a sonnet is that of love- one may believe “Anthem for doomed youth” is in response to an unrequited love of God. Further Owen’s use of an irregular rhyme scheme (ABABCDCDEFFEGG) suggests the unharmonic nature of war; however the usage of full rhyme highlights the hope that the soldiers had, which was never requited.
Owen’s use of the phrase, “passing bells” is metonymical of a soldier’s funeral; the relevance of this is that, the funeral is alluded to on the first line of the poem thus pragmatically suggests that the soldiers were dead before they even began. Owen also explores metonymy through the diction choice, ‘anthem’, which acts somewhat ironic as the connotations of an “Anthem” are proud and glorious juxtaposing with the lexical connotations of ‘doomed’, Owen does this to parody the joyous and inaccurate propaganda given to the soldier of the time. Moreover, ‘anthem’ alludes to an important religious song which often expresses joy, again used ironically to reveal the horrific nature of war. This simple language further conveys the immaturity of the soldiers suggesting one cannot understand the true nature of war.
Owen represents the nature of war through animalistic imagery, “Who die as cattle” thus metaphorically suggesting that the soldiers who gloriously marched into war, were simply cattle marching into their death. Further the rhetoric of the sentence pragmatically asks the reader to empathise and understand that when in becoming soldiers, they were no longer human. The cataphoric reference prior to this of, “these” moreover highlights the mass murder, in that one could not put a name one the number of people who had died- as there were far too many.
Owen’s feelings towards war and conflict are foretold through the polysyllabic, onomatopoeic oxymoron, “stuttering rifles” which metaphorically suggests the paradoxical anxiety of war in that; the connotations of, “stuttering” suggests a inbuilt fear that one cannot control- however this suggests the guns are stuttering, therefore Owen tells the reader that it is not the gun which can kill, it is the killer. Owen makes further use of contrast within the phrase, “demented choirs” which could be suggested to be antithetical, in that a choir is an embodiment of English spirit and innocence, whereas demented semantically creates images of the possessed and the spirited hence suggesting the dark nature of the people in control of England and the lies in which the war was built upon.
Owen Mocks religion in that religon wasn’t there to save the soldiers from the cruelty of war, “mockeries now for them: no prayers nor bells…” suggests that religious ceremonies are almost mockeries of the dead. This contrasts Owen’s use of “bells” within the phrase, “passing bells” which is metonymical of a soldier’s funeral; the relevance of this is that, the funeral is alluded to on the first line of the poem thus pragmatically suggests that the soldiers were dead before they even began. This contrast in suggestion highlights that while those believed in religion, religion wasn’t there for them. Owen also explores metonymy through the diction choice, ‘anthem’, which acts somewhat ironic as the connotations of an “Anthem” are proud and glorious juxtaposing with the lexical connotations of ‘doomed’, Owen does this to parody the joyous and inaccurate propaganda given to the soldier of the time. Moreover, ‘anthem’ alludes to an important religious song which often expresses joy, again used ironically to reveal the horrific nature of war. This simple language further conveys the immaturity of the soldiers suggesting one cannot understand the true nature of war.
Within the poem, “Anthem for doomed youth” Owen shows to the reader, the dark and melancholic nature of war and perhaps more scarily the knowing truth in that God was not there for the soldiers. The persona conveys a strong anger through an effective use of language, structure and form- coming not in full circle to happiness but suggesting happiness cannot be destroyed. It could be suggested that this poem has elegiac qualities, in that death is nature of this poem- yet nobody is mourned for, because ironically there is too much death.