English - Wilfred Owen Help

[DalvinT]

Hi everyone!

I just need help on getting my head around one of the lines in Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth:

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds.

I thought of this line as if the loved ones at the home front is waiting for their men to come back home... Therefore, the flowers that are meant to be laid out in the burial is not undertaken as their patient and sensitive mind ignore the fact that they are not alive...
My annotation for that line does not really sound correct...

[hermansia12]

Hi everyone!

I just need help on getting my head around one of the lines in Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth:

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds.

I thought of this line as if the loved ones at the home front is waiting for their men to come back home... Therefore, the flowers that are meant to be laid out in the burial is not undertaken as their patient and sensitive mind ignore the fact that they are not alive...
My annotation for that line does not really sound correct...

Hi there!

This poem is short but packs quite a punch. This line can be interpreted in many different ways, and I feel like Wilfred Owen deliberately did this to reflect how the interpretation of war was very different for many different people.

In your annotation, I feel like you are saying that the flowers that should be laid on the graves of the soldiers by their family members are not there because their family members are still patiently waiting and hoping for their return. In a way, the missing flowers don't represent a lack of family, it represents the distance and hope of those in the home front still waiting tenderly and patiently.

My first interpretation was that there was a contrast between those excited and eager to engage into battle as opposed to the patient and tender minds who find war a terrible idea. I felt that the flowers were a representation of the blooming of the consequences of those eager for war.

Hope this helps
 

[olivercutbill]

Whilst Owen has so many meanings that can be infinitely extrapolated, I would add the notice of a metaphor in the flowers. Those at home, removed from the war condition hold the soldier's within their flowers; tender, gentle. This is however, ultimately ironic as both the soldier and a cut flower experience the same ultimate condition.

This poem also is crucial for showing his progression through the war condition, so I would say that it is prudent to realise these mental contexts whilst analysing. A general structure:

AFADY: Moral questions, initial observation, notice of effect to those removed
DDE: Satirical confronting of those who facilitate the war condition, perpetuation of the semiotic disconnect between what war is purported to be, and what it actually manifests to.
TNW: A movement towards nihilism, a submission to the context, a dehumanisation and view of death as the incidental enemy
F: Questions of biblical motives, existential questions, further nihilism and fatalism, dismissal of biblical allusions, although subtle
I: Dehumanisation, submission to context, loss of consciousness
SM: Complete removal of critical faculties, soldiers convergence although on opposing sides of a war, death as the incidental enemy.

When a line, or sequence, or stanza doesn't make sense, refer to a similar structure. Such will allow you to analyse and furthermore, improve your analysis as it will be in context of Owen's overall conscious movements.

[StephTol]

Hey, I was having a little trouble understanding Wilfred Owen's purpose?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Hey, I was having a little trouble understanding Wilfred Owen's purpose?

Hi!

The main purpose for Owen's poetry is to show the reality of war, instead of romanticising it e.g. describing it like soldiers are heroes, bringing glory to country, etc. This is a central theme of all his poems - he doesn't want to show some sugarcoated version of war, he wants to portray the horrific reality of it and represent the people who haven't had the opportunity to show their experience of war.

Is there anything else you need help on?

Hope this helps!

[belle12345]

Hi there,
If anyone has studied Strange Meeting and Futility  I would love some help on links between the two poems (perhaps themes that are explored in both poems that arent obvious)

Thanks