Anthem for Doomed Youth
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.
A video performance of the poem can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poems/anthem_for_doomed_youth.shtml
Multiple choice quiz
“Anthem for Doomed Youth” is about:
a) Gas attacks in World War 1 and the horror of war
b) Soldiers sending letters home and lying about what has happened to them
c) The fact they will be no proper funerals for the dead young soldiers
“Passing bells” means:
a) Bells attached to fast tanks
b) Funeral bells
c) Bells rung for weddings
What will replace the “passing bells” to commemorate the dead soldiers?
a) Holy, religious music
b) The sound of guns
c) Heavenly music
“Hasty orisons” are:
a) Quickly made bombs
b) A type of bread made for soldiers
c) Hurried prayers
What kind of hurried prayers will be said by the soldiers?
a) Only what the rifles stutter and rattle out
b) The Lord’s Prayer
c) Pleadings to God to spare them
Who will mourn for the dead soldiers?
a) Their young wives
b) Their parents
c) Shells and bugles
What kind of candles will be lit to help the soldiers to heaven?
a) Candles in church
b) Candles placed on coffins
c) There will be no candles, only the teary eyes of boys
“Pall” means:
a) A coffin
b) A cloth spread over a coffin
c) A pale face
What kind of flowers will be at the soldiers’ funeral?
a) Wreaths and sprays
b) Roses and carnations
c) The flowers will be replaced by the “tenderness of patient minds”
People drew down blinds at dusk to:
a) Commemorate loved ones who had died
b) Commemorate the ending of the war
c) Commemorate their sadness at the war
Answers are in bold:
Multiple choice quiz
“Anthem for Doomed Youth” is about:
d) Gas attacks in World War 1 and the horror of war
e) Soldiers sending letters home and lying about what has happened to them
f) The fact they will be no proper funerals for the dead young soldiers
“Passing bells” means:
d) Bells attached to fast tanks
e) Funeral bells
f) Bells rung for weddings
What will replace the “passing bells” to commemorate the dead soldiers?
d) Holy, religious music
e) The sound of guns
f) Heavenly music
“Hasty orisons” are:
d) Quickly made bombs
e) A type of bread made for soldiers
f) Hurried prayers
What kind of hurried prayers will be said by the soldiers?
d) Only what the rifles stutter and rattle out
e) The Lord’s Prayer
f) Pleadings to God to spare them
Who will mourn for the dead soldiers?
d) Their young wives
e) Their parents
f) Shells and bugles
What kind of candles will be lit to help the soldiers to heaven?
d) Candles in church
e) Candles placed on coffins
f) There will be no candles, only the teary eyes of boys
“Pall” means:
d) A coffin
e) A cloth spread over a coffin
f) A pale face
What kind of flowers will be at the soldiers’ funeral?
d) Wreaths and sprays
e) Roses and carnations
f) The flowers will be replaced by the “tenderness of patient minds”
People drew down blinds at dusk to:
d) Commemorate loved ones who had died
e) Commemorate the ending of the war
f) Commemorate their sadness at the war
More detailed comprehension questions
Why is the poem called an “anthem”?
Why are the youth “doomed”?
What are “passing bells”? Why do we not hear traditional “passing bells” for those who “die as cattle”?
What is heard as a replacement for “passing bells”?
Why is the anger of the guns “monstrous”?
Why do the rifles “stutter”? What is their speed?
What are “hasty orisons”? Who is “pattering” out “hasty orisons” and why?
What “mockeries” could there be for the soldiers? Why are there no “mockeries”, no “prayers” or “bells”?
What is “mourning”?
Why are very few people “mourning” the dead soldiers?
Who or what is “mourning” the soldiers in this poem?
What “choirs” are there? Why are they “shrill” and “demented”? What do these adjectives mean?
What are “shires” and why are they “sad”? Why are “bugles” sounding in these shires?
Why might candles “speed” all the dead soldiers?
Why will the boy say goodbye to the “doomed youth” with their eyes and not with their hands?
Why will the “pallor girls’ brows be their pall”? What is a pall?
Why will the flowers commemorating the soldiers with be the “tenderness of patient minds”?
Why will blinds be drawn down in the dusk? Why will the dusk be “slow”?
Possible answers
Why is the poem called an “anthem”? An anthem is a song which represents a group of people, often a country or nation. Nations have “national anthems” which are songs which represent the whole nation; the British have “God Save The Queen” because the Queen is our head of state. However, the dead and dying soldiers have no “anthem” because as the poem shows they die deaths which no one knows about. No one has a chance to say goodbye to them properly in the form of a funeral or sing songs for them. The poem is an attempt to speak for all these dead and dying soldiers.
Why are the youth “doomed”? To be “doomed” is stronger even than being dead because it means in a religious sense that you are going to hell, everlasting torture. The adjective “doomed” suggests that the young people face a fate worse than death.
What are “passing bells”? Why do we not hear traditional “passing bells” for those who “die as cattle”? “Passing bells” are bells rung at funerals to indicate someone has “passed” or died. We don’t hear traditional funeral bells for the soldiers because no one knows for certain that they are dead; many soldiers were simply reported missing. They had been so badly maimed that no one could recognise them; they die like “cattle” because they are slaughtered in the way that cows are for their meat.
What is heard as a replacement for “passing bells”? The sound of the guns.
Why is the anger of the guns “monstrous”? It is monstrous for a number of reasons; it is terrifying like a monster is, but it is also “irrational” like a monster’s anger is. There appears to be no reason for this terrible anger.
Why do the rifles “stutter”? What is their speed? Owen is copying the sound of the “rat-tat-tat” of the rifle firing by using this word which has a onomatopoeic quality – the word sounds rhythmically like a rifle firing.
What are “hasty orisons”? Who is “pattering” out “hasty orisons” and why? “Hasty orisons” are “hurried prayers”? The soldiers are “pattering” our hurried prayers or saying prayers very quickly because they are terrified that they are going to die on the battlefield.
What “mockeries” could there be for the soldiers? Why are there no “mockeries”, no “prayers” or “bells”? Owen means that the dead soldiers will not be mocked by meaningless religious ceremonies because they won’t have proper funerals; no one will pray for them, and bells won’t be rung to commemorate their deaths.
What is “mourning”? Mourning is when you show and feel sorrow and grief that someone has died, usually by wearing black and acting in a sad fashion.
Why are very few people “mourning” the dead soldiers? Many people are in denial that the soldiers have died; in England, the authorities liked to ignore the fact that thousands of young people were dying.
Who or what is “mourning” the soldiers in this poem? Only the “shells” or bombs are showing their mourning.
What “choirs” are there? Why are they “shrill” and “demented”? What do these adjectives mean? The shells form the choir because there so many of them going off on the battlefield. They are “demented” or mad and “shrill”, which means to sound harsh, grating and loud.
What are “shires” and why are they “sad”? Why are “bugles” sounding in these shires? The shires are the rural or country areas and they are sad because many of their young people have died at war. Bugles are wind instruments which play “The Last Post”, a sad melody played after soldiers die.
Why might candles “speed” all the dead soldiers? Candles might “speed” the soldiers to heaven because many religious people feel that lighting candles and remembering the dead can help them get to heaven.
Why will the boys say goodbye to the “doomed youth” with their eyes and not with their hands? The boys won’t be holding candles during a funeral ceremony in order to say goodbye to the dead soldiers because there will be no proper funeral for the dead soldiers. Instead the boys will be looking sad or crying as they think of their brothers, fathers and family who have died.
Why will the “pallor girls’ brows be their pall”? What is a pall? A pall is a cloth spread across a coffin. However, there will be no proper pall for the dead soldiers only the girls looking “pale” as they remember their lost lovers, fathers and husbands.
Why will the flowers commemorating the soldiers with be the “tenderness of patient minds”? There will be no flowers to remember the soldiers by, only the tender memories of people patiently waiting for them to come back home.
Why will blinds be drawn down in the dusk? Why will the dusk be “slow”? It was a custom to mark the passing of loved ones by pulling down blinds in the window. The dusk or ending of the day will be slow because people will be remembering their lost ones.
Wilfred Owen reloaded 