Anthem for Doomed Youth

Anthem for Doomed Youth discusses death in war and shows how those who die in
war do not receive the normal ceremonies that are used to honor the dead. Owen was
able to express how he felt about those who passed away while fighting in war, and he
successfully communicates a moving message to his readers in Anthem for Doomed
Youth.

What passing-bells2 for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out3 their hasty orisons.4
No mockeries5 now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented6 choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles7 calling for them from sad shires.
What candles9 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 pallor10 of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk11 a drawing-down of blinds.12
8

September - October, 1917

Notes
1 Anthem - perhaps best known in the expression "The National Anthem;" also,
an important religious song (often expressing joy); here, perhaps, a solemn song
of celebration
2 passing-bells - a bell tolled after someone's death to announce the death to
the world
3 patter out - rapidly speak
4 orisons - prayers, here funeral prayers
5 mockeries - ceremonies which are insults. Here Owen seems to be
suggesting that the Christian religion, with its loving God, can have nothing to
do with the deaths of so many thousands of men
6 demented - raving mad
7 bugles - a bugle is played at military funerals (sounding the last post)
8 shires - English counties and countryside from which so many of the soldiers
came
9 candles - church candles, or the candles lit in the room where a body lies in
a coffin
10 pallor - paleness
11 dusk has a symbolic significance here
12 drawing-down of blinds - normally a preparation for night, but also, here, the
tradition of drawing the blinds in a room where a dead person lies, as a sign to
the world and as a mark of respect. The coming of night is like the drawing
down of blinds.

The poem can be read in two parts, so there are two stanzas.
In the first stanza Owen makes a catalogue of the sound of war, the weapons of
destructions such as guns (line2), rifles (fucili -- line 3) and shells (bombe -- line
7), which are linked to religious imagery such as orisons (preghiere -- line 4), bells
(line 5), prayers (line 5).
In contrast, in the second stanza the poem talks about other side of a war: the
families of those who die in the war.
The first line of the poem describes the Doomed Youth (giovane condannato) dying
(moribondo) as cattle(come il bestiame). This description shows how awful war is.
The description depicts multitudes of people being slaughtered (massacrato) and the
nature of war to be full of mass deaths. The simile is showing how the soldiers are no
more important than cattle which are lead to the slaughter without feeling. Owen
gives the sonnet a powerful, negative connotation from the very beginning.
Owen compares the events of war to traditional burial rituals and describes how those
who die in war do not receive proper funerals. In the first stanza, Owen references
the monstrous anger of guns to passing-bells and rifles rapid rattle to hasty
orisons. Usually at funerals or ceremonies for the dead there are bells ringing and
prayers being said, but Owen shows that in war there are only the sounds of guns
being fired. In war, instead of honouring those who have fallen, more are being killed
by the same weapons.
In the last stanza, Owen says but in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers
(holy glimmers= luci sacre) of good-byes. The pallor of girls brows shall be their pall.
Here Owen illustrates the families reactions to finding that their loved ones have died.
The dead soldiers do not get to be honored by their family and friends, but all the
family can do is grieve (rammaricarsi) at the sorrowful news (dolenti notizie). Owen
communicates how depressing war is by making an effective comparison that the
readers can relate to.

Owen uses a lot of comparison, one of these is the simile between a typical funeral
in a church and what would happen to a soldier killed in battle. For example he
compares the church bells with the noise of a gun-fire; the prayers with the rapid rifle
fire; the choirs with the wailing of shells (lament delle bombe); the candles head by
altar boys with the lights of the sky reflected in the dead eyes off the soldiers.