Anthem Of Doomed Youth

680 Words3 Pages
This poem is specifically about the death of a soldier and the notification of that death to his family. This is the reality of war. The word "anthem" has a few different meanings, the one that seems to be the most pertinent to this poem is: an unusually rousing popular song that typifies or is identified with a particular subculture, movement, or point of view. Soldiers of WWI would definitely identify with this poem; no one else (i.e. civilians) could understand everything that they went through during the war. They are fighting a war without knowing the real reasons behind it. They were often poorly equipped. They are the doomed youth of their day. Line 1: "passing-bells" is a tolling of a bell to announce a soul is passing, or has passed, from its body. It is also a tolling during the passing of a funeral procession to the grave, or during the actual funeral ceremony. Line 2: "anger of the guns" is an example of personification; attributing human qualities to a nonhuman object or force. Lines 1-2: These men don't get to have a conventional death; they die in a big field surrounded by other rotting corpses. They don't get to hear the bells calling them to heaven, because the sound of the angry guns is too loud. Line 3: "rifles' rapid rattle" is an example of alliteration; the repetition of an initial consonant sound or consonant cluster in consecutive or closely positioned words. Line 4: "orisons" are prayers. Lines 3-4: The only prayers these dead and dying men receive are the ones from the guns. The guns take your life and read you your last rights. Line 5: "mockeries" are something ludicrously futile or unsuitable. Line 6: "choirs" he is talking about the metaphorical choir of the sounds of the guns firing. Line 7: "demented choir" is another example of personification. Although choir is a term used to describe a group of people it is not used
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