Book 23 - Wilfred Owen "Anthem For Doomed Youth"

[jazzy_dave]

Wilfred Owen "Anthem For Doomed Youth" (Penguin Little Black Classics)




Poignant,harrowing and just beautiful.. these poems from the Great War (1014 - 1918) will melt your heart and reminds us of the futility of war. Contained within this slim volume are 37 poems by the poet who,was killed just a week before Armistice Day.

This is the poem that gives the book its title. For just 80 pence these little black books are terrific value for money.



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.