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 .