Anthem for Doomed Youth

Owen uses a contrast within the title , “Doomed Youth” , he does this deliberately because using “doomed youth” , puts the young people of war and he try’s to discourage them as it is nothing like what the propaganda claim it to be. The first question highlights animal imagery , “dying like cattle” , this shows the soldiers are nameless. There death lacks dignity , dehumanised. Personification is used to mirror the guns , “anger of the guns” , in the noun phrase it makes the guns sound real. Owen uses alliteration to create the stark contrast between the notion of the solemn funeral and the reality of the battlefield, “rifles, rapid rattle”, mirrors the incessant raging of the guns that do not pause when a soldier looses his life.
The whole stanza demonstrates a parody of an ordinary funeral , with the “wailing choirs”, the term “wailing” , is used to create a sound of weeping , emphasising sadness. This makes the shells sound out of control, MASS DESTRUCTURE! The reader is immersed into the cacophony of the battlefield allowing us to vividly imagine the experience of a soldier loosing his life. Owen is clearly conveying an image devoid of the dignity and honour promised in the various guises of the propaganda urging the men to fight.

The mood of the Octet is dominated by Owen’s anger of the Propaganda; the cacophony of sounds is reinforced by the personification of the guns and the transferred epithet, “ monstrous anger”. Owen clearly highlights his disgust at the jingoistic parades and memorials in the line, “no mockeries now for them”. The propaganda machine that fed lives and false hopes to the man and families. Through the use of sibilance, “sad shires” , Owen creates a real sense of melochancy.

In the last stanza , Owen says “ but in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of good- byes. The pallor of girls brows shall be their pall”. Here Owen illustrates the families reactions to finding that their loved ones as died. The dead soldiers do