Last year for Remembrance Day I posted a review of three picture books. This year I’m taking a look at a poem written during the First World War. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen is one of the most moving poems I have ever read; you might want to have Kleenexes handy.
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.
Wilfred Owen & Siegfried Sassoon
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was an English poet who wrote about the horrors of trench warfare. In 1915 he enlisted in the army. Not long after he completed his training he suffered several traumatic experiences that led to a diagnosis of shell shock and a period of recuperation in a war hospital in Edinburgh. There he met poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) and worked on several poems, including “Anthem for Doomed Youth.” Sassoon influenced Owen’s poetry greatly, encouraging him to add a gritty realism to his previous romantic style.
In July 1918 Owen returned to active service in France, where he was killed in action on November 4, exactly one week before the Armistice was signed. After the war, Sassoon was instrumental in the dissemination of Owen’s poetry.
The Manuscript
A rough draft of “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” which was acquired by the British Museum Library in 1934, is annotated by Siegfried Sassoon.
Since I think every word in the final version is perfect, it’s interesting to see how the poem evolved from the first draft.