Poetry Analysis of "Anthem for Doomed Youth"

Subject  > Literature Research Papers  > European Literature

Wilfred Owen's poem, "Anthem for Doomed Youth", creates a picture of young soldiers in battle dying. Drawing a mental picture of a family at home sharing in the mourning for their lost sibling, the reader feels the grief of this poem. Through the portrait of vanishing soldiers one sees loneliness, as they die alone on the battleground. Effective use of imagery, alliteration, and end rhyme as well as great writing gives the reader a lasting impression.         The title, "Anthem for Doomed Youth", fits well for this poem. For the duration of the poem a feeling of death and despair run through the reader's mind. Though one cannot tell exactly which war ...

... with the "slow dusk a drawing-down" (14) repeating the sound of words starting with the letter d. Using the alliteration of the r and d sound gives the reader a better feel for the sound of what occurs at that point in the poem. Reading "rifles' rapid rattle" (3) gives the sound of the rifle shooting very well. Throughout the poem the use of end rhyme transpires with the rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD EFFEGG. Although this rhyme scheme appears to be Petrarchan because of the octave and sestet, it does not have the same scheme as Petrarchan. Shakespearian scheme occurs in the octave and the last two lines of the

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