Anthem for Doomed Youth Speech

Good morning/afternoon fellow executives and publishers. I come to you today in hope that you will fund my new poetry text book, ‘When Words Speak’. My proposed book aims to promote poetry and encourage year eight students, through the plethora of techniques utilised by the composers. Although the impact of the poems will be explored briefly in my book, I believe that it will be extremely worthwhile and useful for students.

Firstly, let me recite a Wilfred Owen’s 1917 elegy, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, which I plan to include in ‘When Words Speak’.

What passing bells for those 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 for them from prayers or bells,

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles called 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 good byes.

The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,

And each slow dusk the drawing down of blinds

The first few lines of this poem use similes and rhetorical questions, such as “what passing bells for those who die as cattle?” are used. These techniques enable the responder to conceptualise a brutally vivid image of soldiers being sent to their inevitable death in the fields of war much like the cattle in the abattoir. It serves to portray war as a mass funeral where death rituals seem to overweigh the glory, bravery and heroic acts of war.

Personification in combination with metaphors in “only the monstrous anger of guns” alludes to my newly-shaped response. The guns are integrated with human characteristics focussing the anarchy of war and are emblematic of the murder, death and disaster of war.  

The alliteration of “rifles’ rapid rattle” is accentuated through the use of onomatopoeia with the reference to “stuttering” exemplifying a dimension of audibility much like the rain of bullets on the soldiers. Moreover, the use of the rhyming pattern, ABAB, “cattle…rattle” creates a pace which augments the composer’s attitudes and message.

Also, through the juxtaposition of the bloodshed, bullets, prayers and bells of the funeral, Owen’s perception towards war is highlighted. This is evident, “shrill demented choir of wailing shells…bugles called from sad shires”. This sinister atmosphere has in turn encompassed the many purposes of my book in exposing year 8 students to the elements of poetry. 

The second stanza commences with yet another rhetorical question similar to that in the first line, “What candle will be held to speed them all?”. Owen portrays the death of the soldiers as nothing magnificent in which their funerals will not be accompanied by funeral candles, but rather the candles of their blazed life as seen in the shimmer of their eyes. 

The last line uses alliteration again, “And each slow dusk the drawing down of blinds”, to focus the need for soldiers to move on and forget the death of their comrades in an environment already plagued by death.

I believe that this poem will be relevant in the education of year 8 students. This poem is combined with a myriad of poetic techniques such as rhyme, assonance, imagery and metaphor to just name a few. It will enable students to appreciate the beauty of poetry and through this shape their personal understanding of various themes and issues. It is my hope that my book, ‘When Words Speak’ will stimulate, re-kindle and reignite the students’ passion for poetry. So, I hope that you will consider my book so that students can begin to understand the techniques of poetry.

Thank you.