Anthem for Doomed Youth is a poem written by Wilfred Owen during World War I. It is a lament for the young soldiers who died in the war, and a condemnation of the horrors of war. The poem is written in the form of a sonnet, and is composed of two stanzas. The first stanza of the poem describes the sounds of war, such as the "monstrous anger of the guns" and the "shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells." The second stanza focuses on the lack of proper funerals for the dead soldiers, and the lack of mourning for them. The poem ends with a plea for the dead to be remembered, and for their deaths to be honored. The poem is a powerful condemnation of the horrors of war, and a reminder of the human cost of conflict. It is a reminder that war is not a glorious thing, but a tragedy that should be remembered and mourned.
By Wilfred Owen · First published 1918 · Genre: Poetry, War Literature, Historical Fiction