about the poem "Anthem for doomed youth" by Wilfred Owen

this poem "the anthem of doomed youth" the poet wilfred owen is a war poet and the poem is the sad true about the outcome/result of war 

the poet talks about the death of young soldiers in the war and compares the burial and moments before death of a normal person and the death of a soldier during war.  Soldiers of WWI would definitely identify with this poem; no one else (i.e. civilians) could understand everything that they went through during the war. They are fighting a war without knowing the real reasons behind it. They were often poorly equipped. They are the doomed youth of their day.

Line 1: "passing-bells" is a tolling of a bell to announce a soul is dieing. The soldiers are compared to cattle in this line 

Line 2: "anger of the guns" is the only sound that the soldiers hear while they die, they are the only bells that ring for them they do not get to hear the soothing church bells before death.

Lines 3-4: The only prayers these dead and dying men receive are the sounds from the guns. 

Lines 5-8: These men don't go through the religious rights before death; religion is supposed to be about peace and loving your neighbor not about killing them. It would be a mockery to bury them with the same rights as others, because they have basically been trained to take on the devil spirit; killing unscrupulously. They don't hear the sounds of loved ones buzzing around them filled with sorrow; all they hear are the sounds of war, death, and bugles.

Lines 9-11: When a soldier dies in battle it is a common practice to send other soldiers to deliver the news to the family of the fallen soldier. The men who did this job often did not have to say anything to the families; the look in the soldier's eyes or even his presence told them what they longed not to hear.

Lines 12-14: This is in a sense the funeral scene; there is mourning and flowers, all of which the soldier did not receive out on the battle field. The girl's pall is so great that it could be used to cover the soldier's coffin. The "drawing-down of blinds" signifies both death and grief.

this poem seeks to expose the hypocrisy of funerals for soldiers who were senselessly killed on the battle field.

basic explanation of the poem PRELUDES by T.S. Eliot

the poem is about modern life
stanza 1- it show the scene of a winter evening on a very crowded and dirty street we can say that the area has middle class people as it says that you can smell steak being cooked, steak is a middle class man's food

stanza 2-it shows the morning scene where the world wakes up from sleep(temporary death) the morning is not pleasant it smells of stale beer the streets are muddy and have saw dust on it. the people are dragging their feet to coffee stands( it again shows that they are poor and cant afford to make coffee and breakfast at home) the scene is like a play where everything is happening like a routine and everyone is waking up at the same time

stanza 3-the person speaking is still in a half sleepy state and is recalling all the events of the past night. those sordid(immoral) images of last night flicker on the ceiling like shadows. the person wakes up and removes the curling papers from the hair by this we know that its a woman and she holds her yellow soles of feet with her soiled hands which says that her hands and feet are dirty. the woman is most probably an immoral woman(prostitute) who knows what happens on the streets at night when the hardworking people sleep and what they can not understand

stanza 4-\the poem has more emphasis on the imprisonment of men in the urban environments, as it begins,"His soul stretched tight across the skies
That fade behind a city block" this part feels as if some men want to live more freely to be able to see the sky, yet cannot due to the limitations of modern life. In other words perhaps this final stanza is referring to the cravings of men being more free?

that is what is think the poem said i hope this helps the students who want the explanation
i felt like i had to post this after i went across so many sites to find the explanation for my exam
i might post for more poems
i have my english lit 12th board soon so i might not want to open the books again :)