Owen asks in the first line a rhetorical question, asking what funeral bells are heard for these men when they do to die. What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Assonance of ‘doomed youth’ creating a strong heavy sound at the end of the line, like a tolling bell. ‘Doomed youth’ suggests their deaths are inevitable, showing the hopelessness of war. ‘Anthem’ could also relate to national anthems, suggesting their died for a thankless country. ‘Anthem’ is also ironic as it often suggests triumph or determination, and this poem suggests neither. Rhymes throughout the poem give a strong sense of lyricism, again making it song-like. An ‘anthem’ is a song dedicated to someone to represent them, and so Owen sees this poem as a song representing the dying soldiers. Title was suggested by Siegfried Sassoon who was in hospital at the same time as Owen. The form chosen is ironic, and sonnets usually show a problem and then solve, whereas this poem simply talks about a unresolvable problem created by the war. Sonnets are generally love poems, and this poem expresses Owen’s love for those people who are suffering during the war, the ‘doomed youth’ whom he writes about. Sonnet form, in the structure of a Petrarchan Sonnet, but the rhyme scheme of an English Sonnet.

Eventually in 1918, Owen was killed during the war. Also comments on Owen’s rejection of religion during the war. Written between September and October 1917, when Owen was recuperating in a war hospital from an injury, much of the latter half of the poem is then dedicated to funeral rituals.

Was extremely anti-war, and wrote extensively about the inhumane and degrading conditions which the soldiers suffered during the war. Written by Wilfred Owen during WW1, he was soldier who called up to fight on the Western Front.

Anthem for doomed youth poem