Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen is a heartbreakingly honest exploration into the inadequate and empty forms of remembrance for soldiers who die at war. The poem’s anger jumps out of every image, and the haunting questions force the reader to examine their perspective on the rights and wrongs of war.
This study guide is written for students and teachers of English Literature, particularly those studying CCEA’s GCSE English Literature Conflict Anthology and OCR’s GCSE English Literature Conflict Anthology. For more study guides from this anthology, check out the Conflict page, or the list of poems in the series at the bottom of this guide.
Anthem for Doomed Youth
Context for 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
Wilfred Owen's life and career
Wilfred Owen, born in 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire, was a prominent British poet renowned for his poignant and brutally cynical responses to World War One. Owen was educated at the Birkenhead Institute (1900-1907), then Shrewsbury Technical School (1907-1911). After school, Owen worked (unpaid) for the Church of England as a lay preacher and also served the community. During the two years that followed, Owen became increasingly aware of the social deprivation around him, and the weak response of the church. He had been interested in joining the church as a career, but this desire weakened the more time he spent there. In his spare time, he read and wrote poetry, and was particularly inspired by the Romantic poets.
In 1913, after a time spent at home with his parents due to an infection, Owen moved to France. He spent one year teaching in Bordeaux at the Berlitz School of Languages, and then another year as an au pair for a French family, teaching the children. During this time in France, war broke out across Europe, and Owen felt duty-bound to return home to enlist.
Wilfred Owen and World War One
Enlisting in the Artist’s Rifles in 1915, Owen experienced the harsh realities of trench warfare on the Western Front. The brutality of war profoundly impacted his perspective, leading to the creation of powerful poems like “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and “Dulce et Decorum Est.”
In 1917, a gas attack left Owen hospitalised. He was sent back to Britain to recover at Criaglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. At Craiglockhart, he met another patient, Siegfried Sassoon. The two soldiers and fellow poets formed a meaningful friendship, with Sassoon encouraging Owen’s poetry and suggesting edits. After many months in hospital, and despite suffering from the physical and mental strains of ‘shell shock’, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Owen returned to the frontlines in 1918.
Wilfred Owen is famous for his haunting poetry which tells of the brutality, suffering and horror of World War One. You can read more in this ThinkLit study guide on his poem Exposure, which is included in the AQA Power and Conflict Anthology, and provides a great opportunity for wider reading for GCSE students studying Anthem for Doomed Youth.
Tragically, Owen’s life was cut short at 25, just one week before the Armistice, marking the war’s end. Posthumously, fellow poet and close friend Siegfried Sassoon, along with Edith Sitwell, ensured the publication of Owen’s works, solidifying his legacy as a renowned war poet. You can read more about Sassoon’s impact on Owen’s poetry in this BBC article ‘How a hospital meeting inspired Wilfred Owen’s WW1 poetry’.
Summary of 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
Stanza 1 summary:
In the first stanza, the speaker asks what rituals and remembrances are suitable and adequate to honour those who die at war. He contrasts the controlled, careful traditions of home funerals, such as ringing church bells, having a choir sing and lighting a candle, with the horrifying sounds of war. He calls such remembrances ‘mockeries’ and finishes the stanza with the haunting echo of a bugle being sounded across the countryside.
Stanza 2 summary:
Stanza two continues with much the same tone of bitterness and anger at the empty shows of grief. The speaker moves on to suggest alternatives to such empty rituals, such as simply looking into the eyes of a dying soldier, or the look of grief on a girl who has lost someone, or simply by pulling down the blind on a window at the end of each day. In other words, funeral rituals are empty, but those remembered live on in the individual emotions and routines of those who are left behind.
What is the message of 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'?
Owen communicates that war is hellish, futile and a waste of life. In addition, the church and state have sent these men to die, and then mock them with empty, meaningless shows of grief that do not truly value to horrors of war or the sacrifice of the men. It is a challenge to the reader not to romanticise war.
Line by line analysis
The title itself, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” is ironic. An anthem is typically a celebratory or uplifting song, but here it is applied to commemorate the doomed fate of young soldiers. The choice of the adjective ‘doomed’ is very clear: not only are these soldiers doomed to die, but there is a sense of an active agent sending them to their doom: they have been doomed. The poem suggests that the establishment of church and state are responsible for this, through mentions of choirs, bells and prayers, and the mention of a pall (a flag to cover a coffin), it seems clear that Owen blames church and government for sending these young men to their deaths.
Stanza 1
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
- The poem opens with a question, engaging the reader in his hugely emotive topic.Â
- Passing-bells are those rung in a town to village to announce a death (think about how people communicated before TV/radio/social media announcements!)
- The simile ‘these who die as cattle’ intentionally dehumanises the soldiers for impact. Owen forces the reader to confront the uncomfortable truth that the young men have been slaughted en masse in grim circumstances, very far from home. Their situation is as far removed from the restrained bells or church choirs of countryside funerals in England.
- In this opening stanza, the rhythm of the poem is introduced: as with all traditional sonnets, there is iambic pentameter. This means that the lines have five metric feet (pairs of syllables) and five stressed syllables. The stresses fall second in the pair. (See below: the bold syllables are stressed). Notice that in this first line, there is an extra 11th syllable at the end of the line. This unstressed syllable adds a falling rhythm and a downbeat, adding to the negative tone and the sense of the meaninglessness of war.
                   What pass/ing bells/ for these/ who die/ as catt/le?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
- An answer is given to the question asked in line one: what bells ring for those who die? No bells ring. The sound of guns drowns out any respectful silence or sounds.Â
- The use of the adjective ‘monstrous’ makes the speaker’s attitude very clear, that war is horrific and cruel. The adjective adds human or animalistic characteristics to the guns, personifying the guns and making the soldiers seem more vulnerable to the guns.
- In addition, the abstract noun ‘anger’ supports the previous adjective, heightening the personification of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
- Anaphora is used in the repetition of ‘Only’ on these consecutive lines, emphasising the negativity of what there is (as opposed to what there is not i.e. choirs, candles, bells, etc). Anaphora builds pace here, with one line picking up, echoing and adding to the previous line.
- The speaker’s use of repeated ‘s’ sounds in stuttering and rifles’, and the alliteration of the ‘r’ sound in rifles’ rapid rattle creates a strong aural effect, mimicking the relentless sound of the guns.
- Enjambment is used at the end of this line. The lack of pause increases the sense of the bombardment of gunfire.
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
- An orison is a prayer
- The verb ‘patter’ suggests the constant chatter of conversation. The speaker implies that the quick prayers of soldiers as they die are meaningless and not heard. This bleak interpretation supports the poem’s message that church rituals are empty, and reflect the speaker’s anger at the church and state for sending these men to die.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
- Repeated ‘n’ sounds emphasise the negative vocabulary used (no/now/no/nor)
- Caesura is used in this line. The semi-colon creates a pause, drawing attention to the first word in the second clause, ‘no’. This heightens the negativity of the word ‘no’.
- The speaker leaves no doubt for the reader as to their point of view in the phrase ‘No mockeries now’. In other words, the mockeries of home (bells, candles, choirs, etc) are not present now on the battlefield. The speaker’s focus on the rituals of death at home centres around the church and state: choirs, church bells, palls – these are all symbols of the establishment. The speaker blames the establishment for the cruel deaths of these young men.
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
- Anaphora used here in the repetition of ‘nor’ from the previous line.
- At the end of this line, the hyphen creates a pause and we wonder if the speaker has changed his mind. Perhaps a choir’s singing could soothe appropriately. But in the next line, this is modified for clarity: not the choirs of churches, but the choirs of wailing shells.
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
- Repetition of the word ‘choirs’ from the previous line emphasises a shadow of similarity, but this time the choir is not a sound of beauty in a church, but the shells on the battlefield.
- The adjectives ‘shrill, demented’ tell of the unrelenting and mercilessness of the battlefield.
- The personification of shells as ‘wailing’ as if they too are miserable, adds to the auditory imagery here, and intensifies the anger shown by the speaker.
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
- A bugle is a small brass instrument used in war to recruit new soldiers in towns and cities. It looks like a horn or a trumpet and you may have heard it played during Remembrance services for the Last Post.
- Sibilance and consonance are used on the last two lines of this stanza in shrill/choirs/shells/bugles/sad/shires. The sound of the repeated ‘s’ adds to the sound of the shells and the melancholy echo around the shires.
- As in most sonnets, there is a volta here; a shift in mood, or an answer provided in the sestet to the question raised in the octave.
Stanza 2
What candles may be held to speed them all?
- Like stanza one, stanza two opens with a question: does lighting a candle help to speed up the dying process and the journey to the afterlife for these men? The speaker questions the meaning of the rituals performed at home.
- Often the sestet opens with an answer to the question asked by the octave. Instead, this sestet opens with another question, suggesting that there are no answers to the questions raised by these lines. There are no suitable ways to remember the dead that carry enough meaning to make their sacrifice worthwhile, in the opinion of the speaker.
- In stanza two, the focus moves away from the battlefields of stanza one and back to the ‘shires’ of Britain, where families and communities figure out how to remember their loved ones. The sound of the guns is gone, and stanza two offers a quieter, more reflective tone.
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
- Enjambment is used to help connect the rhyme of ‘eyes’ and ‘goodbyes’, emphasised by the proximity of the rhyming sounds.Â
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
- Owen creates more sound effects in this line, with the sibilance of ‘shall shine’ and the alliteration of ‘glimmers of goodbyes’. These sounds are softer than the alliteration used in the gunfire of stanza one. Here, they emphasise the melancholic tone of remembrance.
- For the first time, a positive adjective, ‘holy’, is used for the looks in men’s eyes when saying their goodbyes. In other words, the personal goodbyes carry more meaning than state-led funerals can offer.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
- Pallor means a paleness due to grief or sadness.
- Pall is a sheet which covers a coffin in a funeral service.
- A play on words is used with pallor and pall: both words link to the theme of death and grief, and they are linked through the alliteration of the ‘p’ sound.
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
- In this line, ‘patient’ can have two relevant meanings. Firstly, a patient mind is a quiet, reflective mind appropriate for such a sombre moment at the remembrance of the dead. Secondly, ‘patient’ could refer to those injured, hospitalised soldiers, especially those with shell shock like Owen, who spent time recuperating in hospital. These patient minds would be tender, as the line says, and reflect Owen’s own experiences.
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
- The poem ends with a rhyming couplet, giving a decisive end to the reflection.
- The imagery of death, in ‘drawing-down of blinds’ reminds us of the closing or death of each day. Owen suggests that the simple acts carried out by people each day are a more fitting tribute to the dead than funeral rituals.Â
- In closing the blinds one day, they must logically be opened again the next day. In this line, Owen suggests that the cycle of life continues and that this also is a suitable remembrance: those who live on will do so because of the sacrifice of those who did not live on. The cycle of life has been bought at a very high price.
Form and Structure Analysis
Sonnet structure
This poem has 14 lines, a regular rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter: it is a sonnet.
Owen uses the opening octave to raise a question: what bells are rung and what rituals are performed for the men who died on the battlefields of Europe? After the volta, we hope to find some answers to this question, but instead, we are greeted with another question: what candles exist that can help a dying man? The speaker does give an answer, although not perhaps an obvious one. In the sestet, we are told that the only way to rightly remember these men is in a look, or a demeanour, or in pulling your curtains at night time i.e. in every thought and on every day, these men should be remembered.
Owen combines elements of a Shakespearean (English) and a Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet in Anthem for Doomed Youth. Perhaps this is to reflect the fact that English shires, towns, and villages all send these young men over to Europe to fight.
One difference between Anthem for Doomed Youth and a more traditional sonnet is that Anthem for Doomed Youth is split at the volta into two stanzas: an octave and a sestet. Traditional sonnets have all 14 lines in one verse. Why? Perhaps to reflect the fractured and broken world that sends young men to die on battlefields. Perhaps to reflect Owen’s anger at the establishment. Or perhaps to create a pause to allow room for reflection on better ways to remember the dead.
Rhythm
The rhythm in Anthem for Doomed Youth is iambic pentameter, as is traditional for a sonnet. This means that each line (usually) contains ten syllables arranged in five pairs (or feet), where the first syllable in the pair is unstressed, and the second syllable in each pair is stressed. For example: ‘What can/dles may/ be held/ to speed/ them all?’
In some cases, Owen varies the rhythm for a purpose. In line one, there is an extra syllable, perhaps to unsettle the reader and to add to the negative tone. In some lines, the order of stressed and unstressed syllables is switched. In these cases, it creates a trochee rather than an iamb (in other words, the order is stressed then unstressed, rather than unstressed then stressed). We see this in line two: ‘Only/ the mon/strous an/ger of/ the guns‘. You can see that the first pair of syllables is a trochee, followed by four iambs. This small change in rhythm draws our attention to the first word ‘Only’, highlighting the negativity of the sound of dead on the battlefield.
Rhyme
The rhyme scheme of Anthem for Doomed Youth follows this pattern: ABABCDCD EFFEGG. In other words, the octave has two quatrains of alternate rhyme, and the sestet has one quatrain of enclosed rhyme followed by a rhyming couplet. This rhyme scheme is a variation on the Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme which has three quatrains and a couplet. You can see the various patterns of sonnets in the infographic above.
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Themes in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
The horrors of war:
Owen vividly describes the brutal and dehumanising aspects of war. He focuses on the devastating effects of violence and the inhumane conditions in which soldiers lived and died.
Loss, grief and remembrance:
The poem conveys a deep sense of loss and grief, not only for the soldiers who died on the battlefield but also for the loved ones left behind. The traditional rituals of mourning are contrasted with the chaotic and undignified deaths of the soldiers. There are references to religious rituals and symbols throughout the poem. Owen uses these to highlight the senseless sacrifice of young lives and to question the existence of a benevolent deity in the face of such suffering, with religious imagery recurring throughout the poem.
Futility of War:
Owen questions the purpose and value of war. He suggests that the sacrifices made by young soldiers are ultimately futile and that the glorification of war is misguided.
Quiz on ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’
Test your knowledge of the poem 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' by Wilfred Owen.
Comprehension Questions:
- How does Wilfred Owen use imagery to convey the theme of the futility of war in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’?
- Discuss the significance of the title ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ in relation to the content and tone of the poem.
- How does Owen use sound devices such as alliteration and onomatopoeia to enhance the poem’s message?
- Explore the contrast between the peaceful imagery of traditional funeral rites and the harsh reality of war as depicted in the poem.
- Analyse the use of religious imagery and language in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth.’ How does Owen employ this imagery to critique the notion of a just or divine war?
- Discuss the role of the sonnet form in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth.’ How does Owen subvert traditional sonnet conventions to convey his anti-war message?
- How does Owen depict the impact of war on young soldiers and their families in the poem?
- Discuss the significance of the poem’s closing lines: ‘And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.’ What does this imagery suggest about the lasting effects of war on society?
- How does ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ reflect Wilfred Owen’s own experiences as a soldier in World War I?
- What poem from your anthology would you choose to compare with ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’?
Poems to pair with 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
These poems provide opposite opinions, and so provide great opportunities for contrasts and analysis. Newbolt’s poem glorifies the sacrifice, romanticising the death of soldiers in achieving a greater good. Owen’s poem presents a completely contrasting point of view. The poems have plenty of imagery and language devices to compare and contrast.Â
As above, this poem provides a complete contrast to Owen’s point of view. Where Owen sees war as futile, cruel and horrifying, Tennyson sees war as glorious and worthwhile. There is plenty to compare in terms of the auditory imagery used in both poems, and in their use of structure to reflect meaning.Â
Other ThinkLit study guides in the CCEA Conflict Anthology:
