Wilfred Owen was a British poet who wrote some of his most famous poems about World War I after serving as a soldier. "Anthem for Doomed Youth" is a sonnet written in 1917 that depicts the horrors of war through vivid imagery and sound devices. It contrasts the impersonal violence of battle with the slow mourning of loved ones at home. The poem uses metaphors and personification to criticize how war treats soldiers as nameless casualties instead of human beings. It highlights the senseless devastation of young lives and loss of identity that men experienced in combat.

1. Anthem for Doomed Youth
A Poem by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
A Study Guide
Wilfred Owen: Talented Poet Killed in World War I
.......Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire, England, in 1893 and studied at the University of Reading. Because he
could not afford to continue his education, he left school and worked as an English-language tutor in France while
also writing poetry. After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the loss of so many young lives horrified him.
Nevertheless, after returninghome in 1915, he enlisted in the Artist's Rifles of the British army, received a
commission, and shipped out to France in late December 1916. Over the next several months, he wrote poetry to
record his impressions of the war. In the spring of 1917, he exhibited symptoms of shell shock after experiencing
the hell of trench warfare. He also contracted trench fever, abacterial infection transmitted by lice. His superiors
returned him to Britain, where he underwent treatment at a war hospital in Craiglockhart, Scotland, then a suburb
of Edinburgh and now part of the city. While there, he continued to write poems, one of which was “Anthem for
Doomed Youth.” An experienced poet who was also receiving treatment, Siegrfied Sassoon (1886-1967), helped
him edit and polish his work. After his discharge from the hospital, Owen mingled with poets and wrote more
poetry. His work by this time was showing great promise. Eventually, he returned to the army—and to war. He died
in battle just one week before the war ended (November 11, 1918). He was only twenty-five. However, his war
poems, including “Anthem,” lived on and today remain as meaningful and relevant as when he wrote them.
Type of Work: Sonnet
.......“Anthem for Doomed Youth” is a lyric poem in the format of a sonnet. Wilfred Owen wrote it in 1917 while
under treatment for psychological trauma and trench fever (as explained in the paragraph above) at a war hospital
in Craiglockhart, Scotland, then a suburb of Edinburgh and now part of the city.
The Sonnet Format: Petrarchan and Shakespearean
.......The Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), a Roman Catholic priest, popularized the sonnet format. Other famous
Italian sonneteers were Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italy's most esteemed writer, and Guido Cavalcante (1255-
1300). A Petrarchan sonnet consists of an eight-line stanza (octave) and a six-line stanza (sestet). Generally, the
first stanza presents a theme, and the second stanza develops it. The rhyme scheme is as follows: first stanza
(octave): ABBA, ABBA; second stanza (sestet): CDE, CDE.
.......The sonnet form was introduced in England by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of
Surrey (1517-1547). They translated Italian sonnets into English and wrote sonnets of their own. Wyatt and Surrey
sometimes replaced Petrarch's scheme of an eight-line stanza and a six-line stanza with three four-line stanzas
and a two-line conclusion known as a couplet. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) adopted the latter scheme in his
sonnets. His rhymescheme was ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. The meter of his lines was iambic pentameter. After his
sonnets were published in a 1609 collection, the English sonnet became popularly known as the Shakespearean
sonnet.
Owen's Poem: a Hybrid Sonnet
......."Anthem for Doomed Youth" is a hybrid sonnet—that is, it combines the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet
with the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet except for lines 11 and 12. (The rhyme scheme of
Shakespeare's sonnets isABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG; the rhyme scheme of Owen's poem is ABAB, CDCD, EFFE,
GG.
Meter
.......All lines except 2 and 3 are in iambic pentameter, a verse format in which a line contains five pairs of syllables
(ten syllables in all). In each pair, the first syllable is unstressed and the second stressed, making up a unit called
an iamb. Lines 4, 5, and 6 of the poem demonstrate the pattern of iambic pentameter:
Can PAT..|..ter OUT..|..their HAS..|..ty OR..|..is SONS
No MOCK..|..er IES..|..for THEM..|..from PRAYERS..|..or BELLS
Nor AN..|..y VOICE..|..of MOURN..|..ing SAVE..|..the CHOIRS

2. Occasionally a line of iambic pentameter contains an extra syllable, for a total of eleven, as in line 1:
What PASS..|..ing BELLS..|..for THESE..|..who DIE..|..as CAT..|..tle
Lines 2 and 3 of "Anthem for Doomed Youth" veer from the iambic pattern because the stress falls on the first
syllable in the first pair (ON ly) in each line. To learn more about iambic pentameter and other forms of meter, click
here.
Writing Approach and Literary Devices
....... Owen wrote the poem from the perspective of a soldier on a battlefield. In the first eight lines (octet), the
soldier asks and answers a question. Notice that the answer appears in the present tense and focuses almost
exclusively on the sounds and frantic pace of war. Phrases with onomatopoeia—stuttering rifles, rapid rattle, patter
out, and wailing shells—imitate the sounds on the field.
.......In the last six lines (sestet), the soldier asks and answers another question. Notice that this time the answer
appears in the future tense and focuses entirely on the sights of the mourning period and the agonizing slowness
of its pace.
.......Throughout the poem, Owen uses alliteration to promote rhythm and euphony, as
in rifles' rapid rattle and glimmers of good-byes. Note that some alliterations occur subtly, as in the st in hasty that
echoes the st in stuttering and in thesh in shrill that alliterates with the sh in shells and the sh in shires.
.......In the octet, two personifications call attention to the terrifying rage and insanity of war: monstrous anger of the
guns (comparison of guns to angry humans) and demented choirs of wailing shells (comparison of the shells to
deranged humans).
.......In the sestet, three metaphors center on the poignant suffering of the mourners at home. One compares
the holy glimmers in the eyes of boys to candles, and another compares the pallor of the girls' brows to the pall that
covers the casket. In the third, the tenderness of patient minds becomes the flowers that adorn the soldiers'
graves.
Themes
Senseless Devastation
.......The butchery of war horrified Wilfred Owen. His comrades in arms represented the best hope for a better
future, but all around him that hope was vanishing in the fire and smoke of the battlefield. The war also devastated
the loved ones at home, robbing them of sons, daughters, brothers, and fathers and leaving only emptiness
behind.
Loss of Identity
.......In war, young men with distinct personalities and unique talents become nameless pawns to do the bidding of
the political decision-makers. When they fall on the battlefield, no one stops to mourn them or pay them homage.
The bombs keep falling. The guns keep firing.
Anthem for Doomed Youth
By Wilfred Owen
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 for them from prayers or 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 good-byes.
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.

3. Annotations
Passing-bells: A custom in England dating back many centuries was to ring a bell when a person was dying.
Those who heard it were to pray that the person's soul would pass on to the light of heaven when he or she died—
hence, the term passing bell. Today, churches traditionally toll bells at funerals.
Cattle: The comparison of the soldiers to slaughtered cattle underscores the inhumanity of war; it treats men as
mereanimals.
Orisons (OR ih zuns): Prayers.
Wailing shells: It is ironic that the killers, the shells, are also personified mourners.
Candles: Held by altar boys, the candles represent to Owen ritualistic, artificial funereal trappings. More
appropriate to him is the sad glimmer in the eyes of these boys.
Pall: The cloth, usually black, covering the coffin at a funeral. To Owen, it is, like the candles, an artificial funereal
trapping. More appropriate as a pall is the pallor (paleness) on the faces of girls.
Drawing-down of blinds: This simple phrase allows the reader to picture the behind-the-scenes suffering of the
loved ones after the burial of a soldier.
Study Questions and Essay Topics
1. Write a short essay arguing that "Anthem for Doomed Youth" is as meaningful today as it was when Owen wrote
it in 1917.
2. Ask a person who fought in a war whether the poem expresses what he or she felt on the battlefield. Report your
answer to your class.
3..What is an anthem?
4. Identify three alliterating words in the last line of the poem.
5. Did you notice that the first word of the first and second stanzas is the same (what) and that the first word of the
last line of each stanza is also the same (and)? In your opinion, why did frame each stanza with what and and?