Comparing the themes of ‘death’ in ‘The Man He Killed’ (Thomas Hardy) and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ (Wilfred Owen).

Another way in which the theme of death is shown is through the structure of these two poems. There are differences in the way the poems are structured. Hardy’s ‘The Man He Killed’ is written in quatrains, which are stanzas of four lines, and uses irregular punctuation. This has the effect of ‘hesitation’ on the part of the speaker, perhaps showing his grief or guilt towards the ‘foe’ he killed with no other reason. Again, death is shown to affect people individually. On the other hand, Owen presents his poem ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ in a sonnet form, using elements of both Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnet forms but he breaks it apart with a line gap. This is ironic as sonnets are usually used for love poems, but the ‘love’ of the sonnet has been broken up by the line gap, representative of war. War, therefore, has broken people’s ability to love. Both of these poems, however, have continuous rhythm which could represent the continued rhythm of life in the face of death.

A closer reading also shows differences in how Hardy and Owen present the theme of death. In ‘The Man He Killed’, his language is less emotional but more personal – for example, “I shot him dead”. This is a personal interaction between two people so death is shown from one man’s point of view. We can also see this in “He was my foe”, which also uses basic but personal language. Death, therefore, is personal. Owen, however, offers a more abstract, religious approach to death. His imagery of ‘candles’ throughout ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ suggests a group remembrance, as in church where people come together to mourn those lost. Religion is further suggested by “speed them all” which implies that an afterlife exists, so for religious people, death is not always ‘the end’. This is different to Hardy’s poem, where the man’s death was the final stage of his life.