Anthem v Homecoming
SIMPLE STRUCTURE – WHAT TO INCLUDE IN EACH PARAGRAPH
Introduction:
The names of the poems and their poets, how they are different wars, Australian poet versus English
poet but both look at how we treated the fallen in war and the purpose is to get people to rethink the
war and how we send boys to die in war (anti-war poems) audience – people back home
P1 Structure
What the poem is about. Look at how the titles are ironic then how is it structured - stanzas, rhyme,
narrative, narrator, 1st person, 3rd person
P2/3 Language
Poetic devices; similes, onomatopoeia, metaphor, -ing, alliteration, repetition. Need to discuss how they
are used by each poem and a comment on its effectiveness
P4 Effectiveness
Comment on how effective each poem is in achieving its purpose
Words to help describe how the poems are different and how they are the same:
Difference - in contrast, while, whereas, however, although, but, opposite, unlike, different
Similarity - in addition, similarly, the same, both, similar, also, like, share
Before you write you need to plan what are similar and different in each area of the poem
Use a table to help plan:
Introduction – audience, purpose, poet, when written
Anthem
About WW1
English poet Owen
1918
Similar audiences – people back home
Anti –war poem
Deals with dehumanisation of soldiers, loss of
identity in death
Audience feel guilty
Homecoming
About Vietnam war
Australian poet Bruce Dawe
1968
People back home
Anti-war poem
Deals with dehumanisation of soldiers, loss of
identity in death
Audience feel guilty
Structure – form, rhyme, narrator, 1st/3rd person narrative, enjambment, caesura, stanza, lines
Anthem
2 stanza 14 line sonnet
Comparison
3rd person
Ironic title
Homecoming
25 line free verse
More of a narrative
3rd person
Ironic title
Language – simile, metaphor, imagery, onomatopoeia, personification, etc
Anthem
Ironic title
Metaphor – ‘dies as cattle’ (loss of identity) and
loss of life, brutal and horrible
Use of comparison to funeral to highlight
loneliness
Homecoming
Ironic title
Repetition of ‘them’ and ‘day after day’ to
highlight loss and death
Colloquial language ‘ balding non-coms’
Model Answer – please note words in red are compare and contrast words
The poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Homecoming’ depict how dead soldiers are treated in war
and both are seen as anti-war poems. Anthem for Doomed Youth is an English poem written by Wilfred
Owen during WW1. Homecoming was written by the Australian Bruce Dawe in 1968 about the Vietnam
War. Despite being written nearly 60 years apart they share a common theme about how men in those
wars were treated. Both poems portray the men as less that human, with their identities stripped away
from them. Both poems send a strong message to people back home that war is a brutal horrifying
experience for the men and that their deaths are in vain. They aim to make their readers feel guilty and
ashamed for sending their young men to war. However, they do it in a variety of different ways.
The structure of each poem is very different. ‘Anthem’ uses a traditional 2 stanza 14 line sonnet whereas
‘Homecoming’ is a 25 line one stanza poem which uses free verse with little rhyming to convey its
message. In contrast ‘Anthem’ uses rhyming throughout the poem. Both poems describe what is
happening to the men using 3rd person, detaching the poet from the action, but with a strong sense that
what is happening to the men is real, it is not opinion, but the truth.
The titles of each poem convey a sense of irony to the readers. The words ‘anthem’ and ‘homecoming’
evoke a feeling of happiness and celebration, however the tone of each poem is the opposite to this,
which may shock their readers. ‘Anthem’ uses a comparison between normal funeral rites, such as
‘choirs’ with the reality of dying a lonely death on the battlefield. In contrast in ‘Homecoming’ at least
the men get to come home, although their fate is the same as the soldiers in Anthem.
Both poets start their poems very dramatically making it clear to their audiences what they think about
war and what it does to soldiers. Owens’ first line poses a question ‘what passing bells for those who die
like cattle?’ while Dawe states ’All day, day after day, they’re bringing them home’. The word ‘cattle’
shows that men are being slaughtered just like animals, this is a horrific view of war for the reader to
consider. Dawe is no less emphatic about the amount of death through the repetition of the word ‘day’.
Both poems through the next few lines continue to emphasise the loss and inhumanity of the deaths of
the soldiers and how they are stripped of their identity through war. Dawe continually uses ‘them’ and
only describes the fallen through colloquial language such as ‘balding non-coms’. For Dawe they are just
bodies, ‘in green plastic bags’. Owen also describes how they are treated, dying where they fall, to the
sound of ‘monstrous guns’. The poems differ in how they construct the image of their deaths. ‘Anthem’
uses metaphors and personification in ‘the monstrous anger of guns’ while Dawe uses a more direct
approach. He uses –ing in lines such as ‘picking, bringing, zipping and tagging’ to bring the reader into
the poem, as if the action was happening as they are reading. Both poems create a powerful image of
what happens to the men although their techniques are different.
AGAIN USE A TABLE TO HELP PLAN WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE FOR PARAGRAPH 3
Anthem
Alliteration ‘rifles’ rapid rattle’
Homecoming
‘telegrams tremble’
Metaphor and simile ‘candles, pallor, patient
minds’ loneliness
Metaphor and simile about the journey home,
(repetition – home, home, home) the plane
‘howling’ the dogs ‘mute salute’ also about
loneliness
Oxymoron ‘too late, too early’
Symbolism ‘drawing down of blinds’
The poems continue to describe the loneliness of the deaths of the soldiers. They both use alliteration to
create imagery. In ‘Anthem’ it is the ‘rifles rapid rattle’ while in ‘Homecoming’ the ‘telegrams tremble’.
At least the families know of the deaths of their men although there is much ‘grief’. In ‘Anthem’ Owen
continues to use imagery and metaphor to show how the men die alone without their families knowing
of their fate. He continues to use the comparison of the funeral and its ‘flowers’ and ‘candles’ to
highlight what the men suffer in death. Dawe also uses imagery through metaphor describing their
journey ‘home, home, home’ to be signified by ‘the howl’ of their plane and the ‘mute salute’ of dogs on
the ground. They both finish with a reminder of their anti-war theme. Dawe uses an oxymoron ‘ too late,
too early’ to draw the audiences’ attention to their young age and their death. Owen concludes with a
haunting image of the men’s life being extinguished by the ‘slow dusk’. Both poems express the same
sentiment about the waste of life
Final Paragraph - How effective are the poems in achieving their purpose?
This paragraph is similar to what you have already done for the individual poems; you just need to
compare them for effectiveness.
Plan - 3 parts to writing up effectiveness paragraph
1. Restate the purpose of the poems
2. How did they try and achieve their purpose
3. How successful do you think they were in achieving their purpose (effectiveness)
See below for an example:
Anthem and Homecoming are both anti-war poems and deal with the indignity of how war and
countries treat their dead. Anthem shows the brutality of WW1 and how the soldiers were left to die,
using the metaphor of funerals to highlight the loneliness of death amid the ‘wailing shells’ on the
battlefield. Homecoming is no less brutal in its depiction of the loss of identity, although the men do get
home which highlights the changes of warfare in the Vietnam War. Homecoming also uses metaphor
and imagery to highlight the loss of the men and the effect of ‘trembling telegrams’ on people in
Australia. Both poems therefore meet their goal of informing people back home about the brutality of
war and the loss of life and how badly soldiers are treated even in death. The audience is left with a
shameful feeling about war, any war, and therefore both poems are just as effective in achieving their
purpose.
RECAP:
Plan your answer using tables. The tables should contain the parts of the poem that are the same and
which are different. Split them into the following groups:
The poem – poet, time, place, Purpose, Audience, Meaning
Structure – stanzas, lines, rhyme, enjambment, caesura, end stopped lines, narrator, 1st/3rd person
narrative
Language – simile, imagery, metaphor, personification, repetition, colloquial language, questions,
grammar ( eg –ing), alliteration etc
Effectiveness – purpose, poetic devices used to meet purposes, successful or not