3.4.4 Self-test on Three Affective levels of a poem

Read carefully the poem printed below then answer the questions that follow

Anthem for Doomed Youth
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them from prayers or bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girl's brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen
(In Poets and poetry (1992). R.K. Sadler, T.A.S. Hayllar & C.J. Powell (Eds.). Melbourne: Macmillan Education.)

1. The tone of this poem is one of:
a) bitterness
b) sadness
c) callousness

2. The atmosphere of this poem is one of:
a) regret
b) tranquillity
c) desolation

3. The alliteration of "m" and "r" in the above quote gives:
a) a sense of hardness and strength to the description
b) a sense of emphasis to the description
c) a sense of flow and softness to the description



Score = /3
Correct answers:

Explanations to Self-Test