Submitted by: Submitted by TheWolf94
Views: 912
Words: 1201
Pages: 5
Category: English Composition
Date Submitted: 11/28/2010 03:40 PM
Write about “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen, describing the message that it conveys about his experiences in WW1, and exploring the poetic techniques that Owen uses to convey that message.
“Anthem for Doomed Youth”, by Wilfred Owen, is a strong and emotive sonnet which was written in Craiglockhart Hospital, in 1917, during the First World War. In this sonnet, Owen focuses the more on the great volume of deaths of the soldiers at the Western Front and depicts on the inadequacy of formal funeral services for the soldiers. Additionally, Owen, comments on the fact that the soldiers’ deaths are only marked by the sounds of the weapons which ended their lives, and of the reactions from their loved ones back home. This is another piece of anti-war poetry by Wilfred Owen who portrays his horrific experiences on the field of battle and wants to warn people of how pointless it really is.
In “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, Wilfred Owen uses a variety of imagery to underline the horrors of the war to the reader. Firstly, Owen uses a strong simile when he describes the young soldiers who “die as cattle” since he is suggesting that their death is like slaughter on a herd of cows. This visual imagery implies that this is a horrible sight to witness these “cattle” being slaughtered one by one, by the guns. Moreover, the word “cattle” is associated with abundance, highlighting the easy supply of soldiers and their meaningless deaths. Secondly, Owen is portraying the image that the fallen soldiers are only marked by the sounds of the guns around them and are not given a proper funeral service. Owen accomplishes this through a consistent personification of the guns when the young soldiers’ deaths are marked with only “the monstrous anger of the guns” and “the stuttering rifles rapid rattle.” Through this personification, Owen is providing the guns with strong human traits, depicting that they are the only significant aspects of the battle which seem to be paying any sort...