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Anthem For Doomed Youth Essay

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"Anthem for Doomed Youth” is a war poem written by the modern poet Wilfred Owen. It was written in 1917 whereas it was published posthumously in 1920. Similarly to other Owen’s poems, this also depicts moments from WWI which the poet took part himself. Despite the fact that it is known for its great destructiveness, Owen brings through his poem even more horror scenes as he experienced himself while he was part of the British army. Nonetheless, what he wants to emphasize is the pointlessness of war and soldier’s death. Hence, the main themes of this poem are: death, senseless devastation, loss of identity, and the insignificance of dying in a war. Regarding its form, this poem is a lyrical poem in a format of a sonnet. However, it is between Petrarchan and Shakespearean …show more content…

Such is the case with the poem Dulce et Decorum Est," and "The Send Off”, where the poet wants to emphasize the hellish character of war as well as to put down all those themes about patriotism and the love for ones fatherland which are used as propaganda to make the young men enlist in army and fight. Though Owen himself was against the wars between nations and ridiculed the noble act of dying while fighting, he himself won the Military Cross for his bravery. However, alike the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” where the poet describes direct scenes from the battles, “The anthem on Doomed Youth” expands more in the theme of what happened after these soldiers give up their life for their country. He pities the way these men die and questions whether that is worthy and whether their death is praised as it should be. Moreover, there is no real anthem for the doomed youth at all which the reader could have assumed by reading its title, by the end we understand that it is ironically put in that way because what this poem conveys is only anger and sorrow at their

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