Anthem for Doomed Youth

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Y10 2020 Analysis and Annotations

QUOTE - TECHNIQUE -EFFECT

Charlie “No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, - The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;”

Rhyme/metaphor

By making the words “bells” and “shells” rhyme, Wilfred Owen creates a connection or bond between the words and forms a two way metaphor with each being a metaphor for each other.

Sriram’s ‘Shall Shine’

Repetition and sibilance 

The repeated ‘sh’ sound adds flow to the poem and gives it a sound of a whooshing of a shell landing in the war zone.

Lenie’s “wailing shells”

personifications 

by personifying the bullets and artillery, Owen may be trying to make the personified bullets kill soldiers alluding to the other soldiers on the German side killing the Aussie and British soldiers. 

Gigi's "holy glimmers"

allusion

The phrase, "holy glimmers", may allude to the tears the men shed for their comrades who have passed away. This is why their eyes "shine" of goodbyes. It shows that the soldiers are mourning the dead.

Jasmine’s “what passing- bells for those who die as cattle?”

Simile

”Passing bells” refers to a bell ringing for every man slaughtered, comparing it to cows being slaughtered for meat.

Gordon:

“What candles may be held to speed them all?” (This quote is just for background context)

“Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes” (This is the actual quote being analysed) 

Symbolism

The poem creates a sense of stolen opportunity and carrying burden alone. The candles are the symbols of funerals used before the quote. The following line of “Not in the hands of boys” represents this opportunity as being robbed from the soldiers when they are the most deserving for their bravery and courage. The following quote “but in their eyes” represents how the sadness of the funerals isn’t in the candles or mourning they deserve. It instead shows their sadness being only in their eyes with them having to carry the burden of their deaths alone.

Oliver “the pallor of girls brows shall be their palls”

Simile

Means that the men who died at war aren’t going to get a proper funeral and the only pall that they’ll get is in the sadness of their wives

Tilly’s “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? — Only the monstrous anger of the guns.”

Symbolism, simile

The passing bells are a symbol for death, as they would have been rung when someone might have died, back home. It is shown that these ceremonies were replaced by the ‘anger of the guns’, which were on the battlefield. This gives the effect that the deaths were not really noticed, and given enough respect, because there were so many of them.

In addition to this, the people who died are described as cattle, as if they were slaughtered in an abattoir. This makes it seem as if their lives and deaths are insignificant, but happen for little reason. 

Alex’s ‘Can patter out their hasty orisons.’

Oxymoron (hasty orisons)

The ‘hasty orisons’ are oxymoronic in the sense that what should be heartfelt pleas to God are irreverent and done in a state of panic. It signifies that the sounds of the battle will drown out their desperate prayers to god while in the trenches.

Anilson “Only the”

Asyndeton/Repetition

Encapsulates the motif of war and how the only sounds being heard are gunshots and firing. It demonstrates the constant fighting and the flaws of humanity.

Oscar “Sad shires”

Sibilance and personification

Sibilance adds flow and personifies the shires in which the bugles are being played from. The bugles are usually played on occasions such as anzac day and reminds us of the sadness of war.

Ronan’s “Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes/ Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.”

Visual imagery

“Glimmers” and “..of boys, but in their eyes” can portray an image of innocence by including words that create an image of glimmering eyes, which symbolises innocence and pleading. This can mean that there is an underlying innocence and fear in each and every soldier.

Diyon “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Symbolism

The symbolism of the drawing down of blinds represents the final closing of the eyes of the soldiers which also creates a strong conclusive line for the poem

Jayden Quach flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

Symbolism

The technique used in the quote is symbolism, which uses flowers to emphasise on tenderness of the minds of those who are not participating in the war, desperately waiting for their husbands. This helps to give insight into those who are not even in the action, and showing that they too are suffering and impacted by the brutality of war. The symbolism also reflects the shattering of hearts and minds of those housewives at home after the news that their husbands or significant male figures in their lives has passed due to war. 

Michael Day“Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes”

symbolism

The soldiers who died in WW1 had no funeral or normal goodbye as they were just a single person in hundreds of thousands of deaths, their only goodbye was the fading candle light in their eyes

Micky "And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Metaphor

The metaphor of the drawing down of blinds signifying an end - like a soldier closing his eyes for the last time, or the final curtain falling at the end of a play. 

Naomi The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells

Auditory imagery

The description of the sound of the shells compared to the sound of ‘shrill, demented choirs’ is creating a vivid picture of war using specified auditory descriptions of the sounds of war.

Minnie “Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes”

Symbolism

The line,  “Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes” is about how the light in their eyes are fading like candles. The candles are referenced in the line “What candles may be held to speed them all?” and that is referencing candles like funerals and the light also symbolises the life leaving from the soldiers.

Luke - “Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes”

Symbolism

It draws on the previous line about who will hold the candles at a funeral vigil. This is a response to that question in the sense that there won’t be funerals for these boys and the only sort of vigil for these fallen men will be what the other soldiers see when they see them die and how it affects them going forward, the trauma and sadness that can be seen in their eyes. 

Michael Do - “Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.” 

Imagery

By describing good-byes as ‘holy glimmers’, Wilfred Owen is able to portray the scarcity behind proper good-byes and emphasise the importance of a good-bye.

Edmond C - “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Symbolism

This quote symbolises how the death of men in WWI had died and while they close their eyes. This line closes the poem, like how death closes the life of a soldier in WWI. 

William Y - “And bugles calling them from sad shires”

Symbolism

Personification

Owen personifies the bugles in order to represent the soldiers being ordered out, only to die quickly on the battlefield. During World War One, bugles were used to give out orders to the soldiers. Bugles also symbolises the death and the mourning of the death 

Roland  “monstrous anger of the guns”

personification

This quote personifies the guns as they have their own minds of themselves. IT also suggest that the human carrying the guns aren't murdering the enemy but the gun is the human as a tool.

Pingting “Anthem for Doomed Youth “

Symbolism

The title of the poem allows readers insight as to what the poem represents. As many to most of the people enlisted to fight in the war were young men considered youths, this shows that this poem represents most people’s experiences and fate in war. As it is an ‘anthem’ many of the men in war share the same fate of death and hopelessness for a future that they won’t see the next day.

Will - “rifles’ rapid rattle”

Alliteration

Alliteration is used to give us the sound of gunfire in the words when reading it.

Julian - “Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds”

Symbolism

This quote shows the patience of the women waiting for their husbands, and the tenderness of their minds showing that they’ll be affected greatly by the receipt of bad news. The “flowers” represent the lost love and heartbreak they are yet to experience, being a flower such as poppy, associated with deaths and war. 

Maya - “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”

Alliteration and Visual imagery

Alliteration of the ‘d’ sound creates a repetitive pace, which slows the poem down to an end. Visual imagery of the closing of blinds represents the end of day, and the end of life for the soldiers.