english

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English Seminar
Intro (Interviewer): Hello and welcome. Tonight we have a very special guest with us, he is the writer of the world renowned poem, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, and that is none other than Wilfred Owen. (Pause). Tonight, Wilfred will be answering questions asked by you through our twitter feed. (Pause).

Interviewer: Wilfred… welcome! (Welcoming)
Reply (Wilfred): Thank you.

Intro 2 (Interviewer): Well Wilfred, to start things off, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself as a child growing up. (Casual)
Reply 2 (Wilfred): Well. (Pause) As a child, I didn’t have the most privileged life. My family and I had many ups and downs both financially and emotionally like selling our house and lodging in the back streets of Birkenhead. My dad was a temporary worker for some railway company in town so his income was not the best. When I was fourteen, I attended the Birkenhead institute and Shrewsbury Technical School. That was the first time where I found my occupation for poetry. That was the first time were I found my love of reading the Bible and many romantic poems. In 1915, I moved to France to teach English and French at the Berlitz School of Languages in Bordeaux, in France.
Interviewer: Wow. (Pause) So not the easiest life growing up? (Indirect)
Reply (Wilfred): No, not at all.

Question 1 (Interviewer): What have been your major influences and inspirations in the lead up to writing the poem?
Answer 1 (Wilfred): Well… There have been many factors influencing my poetry such as the Bible. I used to spend a lot of time at church as a young teenager. I found myself intrigued by the Bible, the way the Bible conveyed messages. However, one of the biggest influences growing up was a great friend and mentor by the nam...

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... also used by poets to highlight certain areas of a poem if a poet is trying to show a particular message.

Question 4 (Interviewer): What poetic devices are significant?
Answer 5 (Wilfred): The use of assonance in the poem is quite significant as it creates rhythm. ‘Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes’. The use of assonance with the two words shall and shine slows the rhythm with the longer, drawn out sounds.

Question 5 (Interviewer): How do you feel about the poem?
Answer 5 (Wilfred): In a way, I feel angry about the issue, about WW1. In the poem, it starts of calmly and slow but it gradually builds up into anger, talking about the monstrous anger of guns and the gruelling times in trench warfare and it is clearly shown in the poem.

Conclusion (Interviewer): That is all we have time for today, see you next time.

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