As bronze may be much beautified

By lying in the dark damp soil,
So men who fade in dust of warfare fade
Fairer, and sorrow blooms their soul.


Like pearls which noble women wear
And, tarnishing, awhile confide
Unto the old salt sea to feed,
Many return more lustrous than they were.


But what of them buried profound,
Buried where we can no more find.
Who ( )
Lie dark for ever under abysmal war?

2nd



As bronze may be much beautified 1st Stanza


As bronze may be much beautified
By lying in the dark damp soil,
So men who fade in dust of warfare fade
Fairer, and sorrow blooms their soul.


Word Meaning


bronze - a hard yellowish brown alloy of copper and tin that offers a balance of strength,wear resistance,and corrosion resistance.true bronze the variation in bronze ,both in proportion and elemental composition ,can significantly effect its weathering characteristics
damp - wet
fade - 1.weak/insipid
2.dim/lose brightness,loudness/brilliance gradually/wither
3. lose strength or vitality /wane
disappear gradually/vanish
confide - put faith/trust/tell in secret/entrust



2nd Stanza



Like pearls which noble women wear
And, tarnishing, awhile confide
Unto the old salt sea to feed,
Many return more lustrous than they were.
Word Meaning

tarnishing - dull the luster of/discolor,especially by exposure to air or dirt/

unto - to(until+to)
now used only in antiquated or bygone or obsolete or old fashioned formal or scriptural style

pearl - a smooth ,lustrous, variously colored deposit ,chiefly calcium carbonate formed around a grain of sand or other foreign matter in the shells of certain mollusks and valued as gem
old salt - raconteur or teller of sea stories/an old fashioned term for experienced sailor
old salt sea - this may mean old salt of sea(sea stories may be truthful ,half truth or falsehood.however they enhance the naval and marine units or individual.

(raconteur - one who tells stories with anecdotes with skill and art)
3rd Stanza



But what of them buried profound,
Buried where we can no more find.
Who ( )
Lie dark for ever under abysmal war?


Word Meaning


abysmal - resssssembling an abyss in depth//unfathomable/very profound/limitless/very bad/immeasurable
abyss - the abode of evil spirit /hell
profound - absolute/situated at ,extending to or coming from a great depth/complete/deep/pervasive



3rd

An Analysis

Here is an irony in the expression a bronze will be valued vehemently if it is kept into wet underground.A bronze is a hard yellowish brown alloy of copper and tin.It embodies balance of strength and resistance.But the poet asserts that ornamenting value and the decorating stability of a bronze will not be granted if it is not not tested.
So is the case in respect of soldiers who are to be deep delved into earth in darkness to provide their proof of devotion and dedication to the respective country.
lines 3-4 = These soldiers who dim or lose brightness or brilliance gradually and lose vitality gradually due to the brutal impact of war ,disappear fairly or rightly because of haphazardness and disliking the war .They do not accept war spiritually .Their disappearance resembles their rejection of war that causes only death instead of life.
Their regret flourishes their spirit because when the soldiers were alive ,they could not curb the brutal claws of war.They could not express their disapproval as they did not know what war is.They were wrongly fed up with the false notion of war.They were told sacrificing life in war for the sake of unknown cause for the country is a great virtue.Thus they were misguided to participate in the most inhumane devastation in human world.They become aware of such ruthlessness after they had experienced the atrocities in war.They waned themselves.They lost their strength.They were losing their vitality gradually.They are now dead buried underground.Now the sorrow felt by themselves for their own deaths flourishes their souls.They feel the atonement in their own death for murdering so many other soldiers from other countries.
It is also said that they now feel the loss of young lives and understand the inappropriateness of mass killing.They are being felt for the lives of others those mirror their selves.
lines 5-8 = The returning of the soldiers from the battlefield of bloodshed to their own home ground has been compared with the appearance of pearl.The value of a pearl is understood best when it is worn by women.Then it gets its price.These pearls get their originality of brightness and brilliance when these are worn on necks of the women.Soldiers are not lustrous because they have not left their lives in the battlefield and fled away successfully from being murdered in the name of war but because the knowing of untold truth makes them more brilliant and more important.They are of real value with their direct experience of war and warring and warriors.They might be now wanted tauntingly in public to express their own views t hat has been formed with the reality of war.

Here noble women are the beloveds of the soldiers who are confided to the false cause of the country because of the half-false or full-false or story told by the twisters of war who have played tricks to summon destruction in war for their own sake.The expression,'noble women' may have reference to the respective soldiers' motherlands who sent their sons to take action in war front for an unknown reason which has not been even known to her.She only sent her those sons whom she considered that they could solve the problem showing their own charisma and caliber and intellect in peaceful way.
It may refers to the mothers of the soldiers .
It may have a reference to the rich women who used to wear ornaments made of pearls...They agreed to the inducing proposals of the war mongers who told false stories anecdoted with skill and wit.

Criticism

These haphazard lines are intentionally woven to reveal the absurdity of contemporary environment and chaotic atmosphere everywhere.The poet is anxious for the soldiers who had been killed in heart-rendering world fight and consequently had got burials nominally.Their existence had been erased and the authority did not keep any trace of remembrance for them.The authority felt frightened for their doing wrong in fear of mass awakening.Thus the humane soldiers had been deeply delved into the unfathomable depth of earth.Even the survivors could not find their friend enemies. out.The dead soldiers ,thus, lie in darkness .Darkness is not only used to put the dead soldiers in the abode of evil spirits or in hell but it also connotes the idea of falsehood of warfare.As dark can not be good or well ,so as in the case of warfare which is evil in spirit that causes only death.It may also refers to the secret hushed up by war waiters.False is hidden in the house of darkness.

Anthem For The Doomed Youth - An Overview

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
    Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
    Only the stuttering1 rifles' rapid rattle2
    Can patter3 out their hasty orisons4.
    No mockeries5 now for them, no prayers nor bells;
    Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs6,
    The shrill7 demented8 choirs of wailing shells;
    And bugles calling for them from sad shires9.


    What candles may be held to speed them all?
    Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
    Shall shine the holy glimmers10 of goodbyes.
    The pallor11 of girls' brows shall be their pall12;
    Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
    And each slow dusk13 a drawing-down of blinds14



Meaning Of Some Words

Stuttering = speaking or uttering with a spasmodic repetition or prolongation of sounds.

rattle = a rapid succession of short, sharp sounds

patter = utter in a glib, rapid, or mechanical manner.

orison = A prayer.

mockeries = Scornfully contemptuous ridicule; derision

choirs = An organized company of singers, especially one performing church music or singing in a church.

shrill = High-pitched and piercing in tone or sound

demented = Mentally ill; insane.

shire = A former administrative division of Great Britain, equivalent to a county.

glimmer = A dim or intermittent flicker or flash of light.

pallor = unusual or extreme or unnatural paleness, as from fear, ill health, or death

pall = A cover for a coffin, bier, or tomb, often made of black, purple, or white velvet.

dusk = the state or period of partial darkness between day and night; the dark part of twilight.

blinds = windows

- www.thefreedictionary.com/
Title

The word anthem means a musical composition for a choir, usually set to words from the Bible, sung as part of a church service,such as a Hymn sung for the death of a person in a church by the choir boys wishing the departed soul.Doomed means Inevitable destruction or ruin . It means fate, especially a tragic or ruinous one.This hints at the inevitable destruction of the youth who are destined to die.This poem is written as a tribute to the dead soldiers who have been massacred lifelessly in war.But what Owen intends to speak more is to differentiate the customs of prayer between over the death of a general civilian and over the death of a mercilessly murdered soldier.

2nd

Subject and Explanation

Passing bell is generally rung at the time of a person's death.This is a custom that a bell is to be rung in the church when someone dies.This is a process to pay respect to the dead.The poet asks what type of passing bell is being rung for these soldiers who die as cattle being butchered mercilessly in warfront.According to him only the monstrous anger of the gun -with their stuttering and resonant sound -can stimulate the ringing of passing bells.He says that only the rapid rattle(quick,short ,sharp sound) of stuttering (stammering) rifles can hastily recite the orisons(prayers) of the young soldiers.He does not stop he,he adds to it that the shrill,mad sound of shells and the bugles calling for more and more young persons from motherland to be recruited as soldiers can only serve as choirs to them.

In christian funeral candles are held by choir boys to wish the journey of the departed soul to be well and safe.The poet imagines that the soft light that is reflected by the eyes of the soldiers will serve as the candle light and their holy glimmers will bid them goodbye. A pall is a broad piece of cloth spread over a coffin.The poet imagines that the paleness that can be seen on the brows of girls will serve as the pall to the soldiers who died immaturedly.The poet imagines that the tenderness that can be seen in the faces of those (especially the relatives and friends of the dead soldiers) who silenntly bear the toll of loss will be their flowers.It was and still sometimes is the custom to pull down the blinds(curtains) of a house as a mark of respect for someone's death.The earth deeply bewails of their loss.So the dusk which slowly comes down each day sets as the drawing windows of blinds in honour of the young soldiers who die dailly thousands and thousands.

3rd

Theme

The poet expresses his indignation at the display of homage to the dead soldier murdered immaturely at the age of their flourishing mercilessly.How can they show respect after pitiless murders of the young soldiers.Owen says these soldiers who have been killed remorselessly will be given inhumane tribute to pay for their lives accordingly.The poet wants to know what short of bells are rung to pay tribute to those who die in battle as cattle being butchered relentlessly with brutal hands..He believes that only the banging sound of angry and monstrous guns can create that bell sound.Only the short,sharp ,and rapid sound of rifles can in a hasty way,make pray for them.Instead of giving contemptuous respect they would be given proper honor by the hymn of choir cried out by the insane shells and the whistle for summoning the youth to killed in war.

No departed soul should be wished by holding candles on hands.Paleness found on the brows of the women will be their coffin.Tenderness found on the faces of the near and dear ones of these brutally murdered soldiers will be their flowers.Nature will pulls down its curtain in twilight to show its sorrow. Thus the poet wants to visualize the mental suffering or pain caused by the loss of a young soldier as felt by a relative or near and dear ones.A sense of loss and longing for someone gone is intentionally painted here to show the originality of disappointment or distress.The emotions and feelings of the soldiers felt by the humane world as well as by the Nature is enough for the funeral rituals of the dead soldiers .
Form

The poem,Anthem For The Doomed Youth written by Wilfred Owen is considered to be a Sonnet.Sonnet is a genre of poem that expresses a single idea or sentiment and contains fourteen lines with a rhyme scheme.Generally a sonnet is divided into two groups .The combination of first eight lines is called an Octave.And the combination of last six lines is Sestet . This type of sonnets are called Petrarchan Sonnets or Italian Sonnets ,having an octave rhyming a b b a a b b a and a sestet rhyming either c d e c d e or c d c d c d. Shakespeare has made quite different to the structural pattern in his sonnets .There are three quatrains and a couplet in Shakespearean or English sonnets.

Anthem for the Doomed Youth bears a single idea expressing the indignation of the poet on the limitless killing of young soldiers that causes to pay honor to those soldiers ridiculously.The soldiers who have been slaughtered in the butcher house of war must be delivered a different types of inhumane respect .

This poem is consisting of two parts - octave rhyming a b a b c d c d and sestet rhyming e f f e g g ..This is generally maintained but if you watch watchfully then you would have found some pararhymes such as guns-orisons,choirs-shires in the first stanza .