Anthem for Doomed Youth

“Anthem for Doomed Youth” is a poem possessing some characteristics of a Petrarchan sonnet, named after the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch. A Petrarchan sonnet is a poem of 14 lines that consists of an octave (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the final six lines). There is usually a “turn” in the thought that begins with the sestet. In “Anthem,” the octave is full of the harsh sounds of battle in France, whereas the imagery in the sestet is quieter and suggests a different location—back home in England. Owen links the octave and sestet, as the first lines of each are formed as questions and both lines begin with the same word: “What.”

The rhyme scheme in Owen’s poem does not follow that of a traditional Petrarchan sonnet. The octave follows the English or Shakespearean sonnet. The end of Line 1 (“cattle”) rhymes with Line 3 (“rattle”), and Line 2 (“of the guns”) is a near rhyme with Line 4 (“orisons”). Similarly, Line 5 rhymes with Line 7, and Line 6 with Line 8. The rhyme scheme can be represented by the letters ABAB CDCD, whereas the octave in the Petrarchan sonnet rhymes ABBA ABBA.

The sestet follows the rhyme scheme EFFE GG, which differs from that of the English sonnet, EFEF GG, although like the Shakespearean sonnet it concludes with a rhyming couplet. The rhyme pattern in the sestet also differs from the common CDE CDE of the Petrarchan sonnet. Although there are variations on the rhyming pattern of the Petrarchan sestet, none match the sestet in “Anthem for Doomed Youth.”

The basic meter is iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A pentameter comprises five poetic feet and is the most common meter for a sonnet; Shakespeare almost exclusively wrote in iambic pentameter. Line 7 is the best example of iambic pentameter in Owen’s sonnet. However, for variety and emphasis, there are many lines in which Owen modifies the basic iambic rhythm. Line 1 is an iambic pentameter with an extra, unstressed syllable at the end of the line; this is known as a “feminine ending.” Lines 2 and 3 begin with a trochee (“only”), which is an inverted iamb—a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Line 3 is more trochaic than iambic, since the final three words, “rifles’ rapid rattle” (an alliteration or repetition of like sounds) make up three consecutive trochees. Another substitution for the iambic rhythm occur in Line 8, with “sad shires,” which is a spondee (a spondee consists of two stressed syllables). Other examples of spondees are “girls’ brows” (Line 12) and “slow dusk” (Line 14).