The theme of a poem

[sweet honey]

hello everybody

how are you??

does anyone know the theme of the poem

Anthem for Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen???

I know that this poem is a war poem but I want to know it and what is the importance of this theme

also how the poet discuss or show this theme in his poem??((the ways))

thank you for your efforts

I will wait you

[JBI]

First tell me what you think it is, then I'll comment on what I think it is, and then we can create a dialectic (unless we agree) and arrive at a synthesis. What do you think it is?

[sweet honey]

I think it is about a young man who killed in the war in a careless way

and may it shows the ugliness of the war


that what I understood from this poem

by the way I am beginner in studying English literature

and the English language also

[sweet honey]

thank you for your interaction

[JBI]

You failed to say the theme though. That is the subject, but a theme is deeper than that;

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 good-byes.
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

Note, the poem is in the public domain, since Owen died before 1923, and therefore can legally be posted here.

The central image running through the poem is a Christian Church funeral, which seems ironic, it being about doomed youth on a battle field. It is because of this, that Owen uses these images, to try and show the emptiness, and the pointlessness of the war, and their lives, and even their deaths.

He goes on in the final sestet to ask what is the point, what do they have, besides the death and the sound of gunfire. He explains this as memories, and dreams, all of which seem to be disappearing and dying. He says this using the image of a candle, a burning out light, which, of course, will not last very long, alluding again to death.

Now, having heard my explenation, what do you think this poem is about. What strong meaning do you think it carries. I personally am thinking more towards doom, but the central could also be argued to be wastefulness, fate, or even emptiness.

[sweet honey]

thank you for your efforts

according to your explanation I understood that the the center theme

is the death

and the war affected the poet

so he try to show the ugliness of the war

[JBI]

The central theme is not death. Death is an aspect pointing to the theme.