Bugles are an instrument of communication that was used to relay information to soldiers. Shires are essentially counties or districts in England. Owen personifies shires in this line. A shire cannot actually feel sad, but the people living inside the shires can. Similar to Owen, many soldiers must have shared the same feeling of dread throughout the war. So much so that these shires that were accompanied by soldiers were always associated with sadness. The toll of the war not only affected their physical health but also changed how they viewed things and places, in this specific case, whole counties became negatively thought of. Being surrounded by negativity could have influenced Owen to write passionately about the horrors of war. Since it was all he saw for 4 years, it could have acted as his main source of inspiration.

Consider the definition of “anthem”: “a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause” (New Oxford American Dictionary). Yet, what follows is hardly "rousing" or "uplifting." In fact, the poem is quite somber. The title is ambiguous and contradicting, who would be happy to sing about dying soldiers? Perhaps Owen is hinting at a contrast from traditional patriotic war poems by showing the ugliness of war. It could be that Owen is challenging war anthems by revealing the more realistic unfavorable lifestyle of a soldier, specifically one that fought in WW1.

"Passing-bells" were used to announce the death of a soldier. Owen's use of cattle is interesting because he is comparing the deaths of his fellow soldiers to that of cattle. As we know, cattle are slaughtered frequently and packaged as meat for consumers to enjoy. The death of cattle isn't viewed as incredibly important and really not something most people think about. Owen is suggesting that the amount of death he saw during WW1 is starting to resemble cattle be slaughtered. They were helpless in the trenches, innately doomed just like cattle on a farm. The war was a slaughterhouse and people were getting desensitized to seeing death.

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" is a sonnet. One characteristic that sonnets posses is a volta, or turn. Traditionally, the turn of a poem is when the mood changes yet we see the last two lines here are still morbid and sad. Owen doesn't give us a happy ending, instead he leaves the reader with the idea that war seems endless. When fighting in the trenches, not knowing if you are going to live to see the next day, it is understandable as to why Owen and other soldiers may have thought this way. In the end, nobody knew how long the war was going to last, you would only hope that you're not dead come nightfall. In the 1943 film, This Is The Army, we can hear the sarcasm in Irving Berlin's voice when he sings,

"I've been a soldier quite a while And I would like to state The life is simply wonderful The Army food is great

I sleep with ninety-seven others in a wooden hut I love them all They all love me It's very lovely but..."

then followed by a realistic statement and a shift in facial expression when he sings, "Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed."

Again, Owen is explaining the sounds of war. This time however, it is much darker than the previous line mentioning sound, "only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle." The OED defines choir as, "The organized body of singers in cathedral or church service." Owen stays on track with the idea that this poem is a song, but instead, provides a more action packed description of the sounds of war. Shrill suggests the sounds are now sharp and high pitched, and wailing is defined as a mournful cry, sort of resembling a heavy metal guitar solo. This would be the chorus or climax of the song, when the beat goes through a drastic or intense change. Since this would be the chorus for "doomed youth," it is fitting that the sounds are dreadful and unholy. Owen is not only contradicting patriotism, but also the church now.

"rifles' rapid rattle," is an example of an alliteration. An alliteration stresses the stanza’s focus on sound. During war, the sound of a gun often coincides with death. Owen emphasizes what a gun sounds like in attempt to bring the reader to the war zone. The poem is also supposed to be an "anthem for doomed youth," so the sounds of guns rattling off could be the background music, and the words Owen writes could be the lyrics.

WIlfred Owen enlisted in 1915. During his time of war, he was a victim of shell shock and died a week prior to the conclusion of WW1. It is important to note that Owen was an active soldier while writing poetry. Through his personal experiences, it seemed as though he was not buying into fake patriotism displayed in other war poems. Instead, he wrote about the actual experience of being a soldier in the trenches. In Rupert Brookes' poem, "The Soldier," Brookes' gives an unrealistic expectation of war. He avoids talking about the death, sadness, and loss war brought. In doing so, many men were motivated to enlist in order to fight for their country; showing their American Spirit. Owen did not sugar coat what war was. He had no desire to protect war's reputation and told it how it was. In doing so, we as the reader can attempt to empathize with what Wilfred Owen, along with all the soldiers, were going through and how they felt. Was Owen rebellious for doing this? There was no mention of him going rogue, but his negative outlook on the war can give us ideas of what he thought about American patriotism.

World War 1 took place between 1914-1918. Preceding the 20th century, was the Victorian Era, an era that focused on tradition and belief that the world could be understood through rational observation. During the time of World War 1, the Modernist Era appeared, an era that was quite the foil to the Victorian Era. Modernists were all about breaking tradition and held suspicion toward rationalism. A well known neurologist and modernist, Sigmund Freud, presented ideas that encouraged thinking outside the box. This specific line talks about the loss of innocence young men face when they go to war. Considering Freud's ideology, Owens exposes not only the physical terror of war, but also points out the psychological terrors wars cause. The boy's eyes have changed, not physically by an explosive, a gun, or a kinfe, but by seeing war in action.

This idiom suggests the "slave girls" are submissive and being dominated by the speaker's brother.

living with an addict can cause "long-lasting emotional, behavioral and financial consequences on those involved with the addict."

Since the brother believes he is a god and since no one is really telling him otherwise, it's no wonder he's going to treat anywhere like it's home. David Brooks, a writer for, The Atlantic, writes about the idea of a superiority complex. He says people with this mindset, "stride through life with a confidence built on an amazing overestimation of their own abilities." I think this describes the brother to a tee.

describing a prostitute or some kind of sex worker. An interesting article as to why sex workers have such a negative stigma.

An addict is always loved by at least one person, regardless of how destructive they can be

a "cedar grove" suggests he a resides in an area with groups of coniferous trees surrounding him.

Face temperature plummets when startled or afraid