Stylistic Analysis of Poem Anthem for Doomed Youth by Almas Aslam

Stylistic Analysis of Poem Anthem for Doomed Youth by Almas Aslam

• 1.
  Anthem for DoomedYouth by Wilfred Owen What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? —Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds
• 2.
   The subjectof it is war, and the pity of war runs through all Owen’s poems. It is the theme of his poetry. Owen’s anger at the cruelty and waste of that war, and his pity for soldiers who were slaughtered in it, led him to write the deeply moving poem— “Anthem for Doomed Youth”.  In this poem, the poet filled himself with sympathy for the dead soldiers and hatred to this unjust war. Through the title of this poem, it is clearly seen that Owen just sang the anthem for the innocent young soldiers. He thought the First World War brought the youth generation into its doomsday, and brought sufferings to people. The pity for thousands of dead soldiers and the hatred to this war were accepted naturally as the theme of the “Anthem for Doomed Youth”.
• 3.
   Stylistic Analysisof the poem: Stylistically, the poem will be explored on the following levels;  Lexical level  Grammatical level  Figurative Level  Phonological Level  Context and Cohesion
• 4.
   Lexical Level: Nouns:  Bells Choirs Girls  Cattle Bugles Brows  Anger Shires Pall  Guns Candles Flowers  Rifles Hands Tenderness  Rattle Boys Minds  Orisons Eyes Dusk  Mockeries Glimmers Blinds  Prayers Goodbyes  Mourning Pallor
• 5.
   The excessiveuse of nouns in the poem reflects that the emphasis is upon human individuals and their suffering. The words bells, rifles, guns highlight the butchery of war. The words like prayers, mourning, flowers, dusk, blinds, and goodbyes suggest the ritual of death which the soldiers are being deprived of.
• 6.
   Adjectives:  MonstrousDemented rapid  Wailing slow hasty  Sad stuttering shrill  Patient hasty The use of adjectives is to bring home the idea that death and sadness is lurking in the lives of individuals. The adjectives ‘rapid’ ‘hasty’ ‘stuttering’ ‘shrill’ and ‘monstrous’ lend the movement and destructive quality to the poem.
• 7.
   Grammatical Level: Morphemes: There are bound morphemes employed in the poem which are: Bell-s, Gun-s, Stutter-ing, Rifle-s, Orison-s, Prayer-s, Choir-s, Wail-ing, Candle-s, Boy-s, Eye-s, Glimmer-s, Goodbye-s, Tender-ness, Blind-s.  Noun Phrase: These noun phrases infer meanings to the overall understanding of the fact that there is a lot of sadness which is associated with the soldiers’ death. The noun phrases are: Monstrous anger, Stuttering rifles, Demented choirs, Wailing shells, Hasty orisons, Patient minds.
• 8.
   Figurative Level: Simile: What passing-bells for those who die as cattle? “die as cattle” suggests that soldiers are as vulnerable and insignificant as the cattle who are killed mercilessly.  Metaphors:  What candles may be held to speed them all?  .Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes  .shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes  .The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall  .And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. These metaphors suggest that there is no one who is going to mourn the death of soldiers. Instead of candles, the tears shining in the eyes will say them goodbye. The pale yellowish colour of the girls would work as the coffin for them and drawing dusk will cover their faces instead of a shroud.
• 9.
   Personification:  Monstrousanger of the guns  Stuttering rifles rapid rattle  Choirs of wailing shells ‘guns’ ‘rifles’ and ‘shells’ are giving human qualities to heighten the effect of death which is presented as an angry and monstrous figure.  Alliteration: "rifles'--rapid rattle" which grabs our attention, builds momentum, war zone
• 10.
   Imagery:  Religiousimagery: (bells, prayers, choir, candles, holy)  War imagery: (guns, rifles, shells, bugles)  Imagery of death: (die, mourning, wailing, sad, pall)
• 11.
   . Coherenceand Cohesion: All the figures of speech, nouns, adjectives and phonological sound patterns create coherence and cohesion in the poem and each component infers different meaning to the poem which adds to the context of the poem.
• 12.
  The selection ofwords suggest that poet laments the death of those soldiers who die like cattle in an undignified mass. They are not granted the rituals and rites of Christian funeral. They do not get real prayers, only rifle fire. It suggests that religion cannot offer much consolation to those dying on the front. The religious images symbolize the sanctity of life and death while suggesting the inadequacy of religion measured against such a cataclysm as war. The tone of the poem is dolorous yet consolatory. It leaves a note of finality, of lingering sadness and an inability to avoid the reality of horrible death in war.