What does this poem mean?

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

What does this poem mean?
Fundamentally it speaks to his experience during the first world war. Most of that war was fought by very young individuals who literally marched to their deaths. If you are familiar with Trench Warfare, one group charged while the other remained behind the protection of their trench. Once the enemy pummeled them with gunfire and gas, they ran back to their trench, hoping the enemy had sufficient courage and honor to charge in the same manner. The winner of the trench won because they were able to replenish their numbers faster than the enemy who, most of the time, was dying of disease and starvation.





Like the poem stated, soldiers died like cattle, one at a time and en masse. For them, there was no time for being young or for being religious. No one was there to mourn their fallen souls.

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