Wilfred Owen. Anthem for Doomed Youth Essay Example

Through “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, a well known petrarchan sonnet written by Wilfred Owen, the reader sees the horrors of war and how unfortunate it is to die in war. Owen fought in World War I and wrote this poem while in a hospital recovering from shell shock. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” solemnly 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”.
First, Owen relates to his audience how horrible going to war is. The title of Owen’s poem is “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. This meaningful title conveys a strong, gloomy feeling; usually an anthem is a joyous song of celebration but when coupled with “Doomed Youth”, anthem takes on a whole new meaning that implies much sorrow. Also, “Doomed Youth” provides a woeful impression because it foretells of young people having no hope. Moreover, the first line of the poem describes the “Doomed Youth” dying “as cattle”. This description shows how awful war is. The description depicts multitudes of people being slaughtered and the nature of war to be full of mass deaths. Owen gives the sonnet a powerful, negative connotation from the very beginning. Furthermore, 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 honoring 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 of