Anthem for Doomed Youth is a sonnet in iambic pentameter, with war, its atrocities and its traumatic consequences as the theme. The poem focuses on how soldiers become nameless pawns in a struggle controlled by invisible hands, and how civilians are unnecessarily put through violence and devastation upon senseless orders (Par 1 Elite Skills Classic). Onomatopoeia is the sound device used in the first stanza, when the battlefield was being simulated. Metaphors on familial grief over death and mortal pains were used across the lines in the first verse, while the irony that each killer is also a victim resounds throughout the entire poem. In the second stanza, the rhyme pattern shifts from ABAB to ABBACC, but its striking imagery was unwavering at depicting clearly the bitterness, depression and psychological trauma undergone by the civilians and particularly by the soldiers who ceased to be human and became domesticated animals (Par 3 InspiredWritingResearch), mere numbers in doomed conflict.
The title is, in itself, ironic, for anthems have always meant to sing praises about grand things like love and patriotism, and so at first glance the poem seems to praise the damnation of the youth through war, but once read it will be clear that Owen meant for the exact opposite – it is a reminder of the horrors war brings, and a warning to never let it happen again.
Dulce et Decorum Est is another poem on the atrocities of war, yet this one is more graphic, more vivid and more precise than Anthem. From mustard gas chambers to simple methods of torture, it mostly embodies Owen’s disenchanted view on the horrors and vices of violence wrought by maddening and bloody warfare.
Owen’s fascination with war stems from his time as Captain of the British Army; he “witnessed the atrocities of war first hand”, so he wanted “to dispel the notions associated with patriotism and nationalism that were propagated by the media during his lifetime; thus his poetry portrays war as a dehumanising and horrific event (Par 1 Andonopolus).” Probably the most noted anti-war poem of Wilfred Owen is Dulce et Decorum Est, which is “the most famous poem to emerge from World War I” and “can stand unbowed beside Erich Maria Remarque’s novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Par 1 Wood).” The poem was written while Owen was “receiving treatment for shell shock in Craiglockart”, and therefore contains the bitterness he felt, as well as his negative sentiments towards propagandists, particularly on Jessie Pope (Par 1 Mcintyre).
In both poems, it is evident that Owen voices the sentiments of his literary predecessors; as Hemmingway once said: “They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason (Par 40)” and Owen believes that as well. All wars, regardless of the nation and the reason for quarrel, are the same – what matters is not who won or who started it, because there is no victory as all sides lose, and the only figure that people will ever remember is the body count. As Agatha Christie has once said, “One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one (Par 12).”
Works Cited
Andonopolus, Angela. “Literary Analysis: “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen.” Helium. Web.
“Anthem for Doomed Youth Analysis.” Elite Skills Classic. Web.
Christie, Agatha. Antiwar.com. Web.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Ernest Hemingway Quotes.” Goodreads. Web.
InspiredWritingResearch. “Poetry Analysis: Understanding fatalism in Anthem for Doomed Youth, by Wilfred Owen.” Helium. Web.
Mcintyre, Stella. “Literary Analysis: “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen”. Helium. Web.
Wood, Kerry Michael. “Literary Analysis: “Dulce et Decorum Est,” by Wilfred Owen.” Helium. Web.