ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH

Jasper en Ewoud

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.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? 

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Welke doodsklokken luiden voor hen die sterven als vee?

Enkel de monsterlijke woede van de kanonnen.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle 

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

Enkel het snelle geratel van stotterende geweren.

Kunnen hun snelle doodsgebeden uitspuwen.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; 

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –

Geen bespottingen voor hen; geen gebeden noch klokken;

Noch enige stem van rouw behalve die van de koren, -

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; 

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

De schelle, krankzinnige koorzang van huilende granaten;

En bugels die voor hen klinken uit trieste gewesten.

What candles may be held to speed them all? 

Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes

Met welke kaarsen zal men hen een behouden uitvaart wensen?

Niet in de handen van de jongens maar in hun ogen

Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. 

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; 

Zullen de heilige schitteringen van het afscheid stralen.

De bleekheid van meisjesgezichten zal hun lijkwade zijn;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, 

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

 

Hun bloemen de tederheid van geduldige geesten,

En iedere langzame schemering het sluiten van gordijnen.

Content About soldiers who died on the battlefield Link between a normal funeral and the one of a soldier who died

in the war Example: first sentences: What passing-bells for these who die

as cattle?  Only the monstrous anger of the

guns.  Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle 

Explains that the other soldiers didn’t forget their friends

Structure

Sonnet (octet + sextet) (normally romantic)

End rhyme: A-B-A-B: cattle-guns-rattle-orisons

Lots of adjectives Monologue

Used language

Contradiction in the title (irony) Alliteration rifles rapid rattle Personification monstrous anger of the

guns Motive language

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen 18 March 1893 - 4 November 1918 Was a poet and a soldier Friends with Siegfried Sassoon Was killed in action Would become lieutenant Suffered from shellshock Buried at Ors Communal Cemetery