Anthem For A Doomed Youth Vs The Fall Of Saigon

1 Pages 355 Words

In the poem “Anthem For a Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen, the writer expresses his opinion about the doomed youth of war. His opinion being: the tragedy of no ceremonial burial to pay respect for the lost youths of war. He juxtaposes the “rapid rattle” of guns with the harmonies of funeral. The “passing bells” of church and “the monstrous anger of the guns.” “Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle can patter out their hasty orisons.” In this phrase for example the angry shouts of guns shred their prayers, prayers that would be heard in church. Throughout the poem he shows how unjustified and wasteful it is for the soldiers to be killed and left in battle. “For those who die as cattle.” You can visualize the mourning of loved ones without the ones they lost and objects of a funeral that should have been. “The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall” and “their flowers the tenderness of silent minds.”
Unlike the previous poem, “The Fall of Saigon” by David Wojahn relates an experience of war. It juxtaposes the order and chaos of the experience. On one side you have the orderly sounds of the song “It’s Only Rock and Roll, but I Like It” by the Rolling Stones and the “guttural stammer of chopper blades.” On the other side you have the chaos of crowds, and a panic of screams and war as a chopper attempts to rescue people from an embassy in Saigon. He describes the chopper taking off “raising arabesques of dust, tearing leaves.” The “intricate and elaborate patterns” (dictionary.com) of an arabesque versus the tearing of leaves. A CBS cameraman leans outside the chopper to see “artful mayhem.” Finally a saigonese man in a suit grabs onto the chopper’s skis as it takes off and the cameraman records a soldier beating the man’s hands away to save the others on board. Throughout the poem order competes with chaos both audibly and visually. It leaves the reader...