Sound and the Musical Quality in "Anthem for Doomed Youth"

“Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen

            The poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth” was written by Wilfred Owen during the time of World War I. The poem illustrates the two extreme views and understandings of the war at that time. It shows the realistic side to war, with its terrors and deaths that the soldiers encounter, and the softer, more easygoing attitude of the people who are back safe at home. The sounds and the musical quality of the poem bring a mental image of war’s destruction along with a deeper understanding that the war is more severe than the citizens at home think it to be.

            Throughout the first stanza, anger and gunshots are heard in the words. The onomatopoeic repetition of the sound r, in the phrases “monstrous anger” (Owen Line 2) and “rifles’ rapid rattle” (3), makes the first stanza thick with the enraged feeling of the soldier narrating the poem. The r sound is similar to the growl of angry animals. Following the rs lead, the onomatopoeic repetition of the t sound creates the sound of gunshots within the poem. Words such as cattle (1), stuttering, rattle (3), and patter (4) fill the stanza with the earsplitting sound of gunshots. These onomatopoeic sounds convey the emotion of the men who are at war are livid about a situation in which they have to listen to constant gunshots and noise. The first stanza   is also loaded with cacophonous words. The ts and rs, as well as other harsh, sudden consonants like the ka sound, lend a highly unpleasant and shrill quality to the tone. This is creates a picture of the soldiers being surrounded in a hostile and tough environment.

            In the second stanza the mood changes dramatically, from a dominantly cacophonous air to a smooth and euphonious sound. The words contain more vowels and soft consonants to reflect that home is where security and refuge is found. The use of the letter l, in the words all (9), Shall (11), pallor, and pall (12),  is in similitude of children’s lullabies. The men at war want to regress into their childhood because that’s where they felt sheltered; there were no gunshots or mass deaths in their childhood. The men wish they could see war as calmly as those who have not experienced the chaos see it; they wish they could be ignorant children again. The lines “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle” (1) and “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds” (14) explain the different viewpoints of death in the war. The first line states that the men are killed in the same way that cattle die in huge groups. In these huge groups there are hundreds of soldiers whose bodies aren’t taken and whose names are not written down and reported to families as “killed in action.” They are unrecorded, missing soldiers. Following line 1, the onomatopoeic sound of gunshots in the rest of the stanza creates a loud and brutal situation; their death is with no respect or moments of remembrance. However, in the last line, the death at home is slowly dealt with, grieved, and has closure. When the blinds are shut against the darkness of death, there is a conclusion.

            Along with the sounds, the pace affects the story. The way some of the lines are indented past the others indicate that it is supposed to be read in congruence and in sequence with the line above. This makes the lines speedy, and connected with the onomatopoeic rs, makes the first stanza an angry rant. The swiftness of the lines and the t words make the gunshots feel like machineguns. This is how fast moving their world is when they are in combat. Nothing will stop for these men, not even when it’s for their death. The second stanza slows everything down and then keeps it that way by using the indentations in a different way. Indentations are used to break up the single sentence in lines 10 and 11, making it read at a slower pace than the first stanza. The speed of the second stanza draws a parallel to how the citizens feel back home. They are under the freedoms and safety of a peaceful home, and there is no need to rush, fight, or run for their lives. They have time to find closure for the loss of their loved ones.

            Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” conveys the different views of war through the eyes of a soldier who’s in war through specific words and sounds. The two contrasting stanzas that show that this soldier knows how war is looked at back home, but hears a different story when he listens to the sounds of bugles and shells. The poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth” reveals how the war is more horrible and chaotic than what the citizens at home realize.

Works Cited

Owen, Wilfred. “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web.

            5 Feb. 2014