Anthem for Doomed Youth

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"Anthem for Doomed Youth" is a powerful World War I poem by Wilfred Owen that mourns the senseless slaughter of young soldiers and criticizes the romanticization of war.

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf World War I poem
poem
author Wilfred Owen
compares soldiers to cattle
contrasts battlefield deaths with traditional funerals
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
criticizes impersonal mass killing in modern warfare
romanticization of war
firstLine What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
form sonnet
genre elegy
war poetry
hasSubject death in war
loss of ritual and dignity
historicalContext World War I
includedIn posthumous collections of Wilfred Owen's poetry
influencedBy trench warfare experiences
language English
literaryMovement World War I poetry
surface form: World War I poetry movement
literaryPeriod 20th-century literature
meter iambic pentameter
notableFor critique of religious and patriotic rituals
ironic use of the word anthem
vivid auditory imagery
rhymeScheme Petrarchan-influenced sonnet form
structure octave and sestet
studiedIn English literature curricula
World War I literature courses
subjectMatter young soldiers killed in World War I
theme critique of romanticized war
dehumanization in war
horrors of war
loss of youth
mourning and grief
religious imagery
senseless slaughter of soldiers
tone angry
bitter
mournful
usesDevice alliteration
irony
personification
simile
usesImageryOf battlefield noise
church rituals
funeral rites
writtenDuring World War I

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Wilfred Owen notableWork Anthem for Doomed Youth