"Attack" by Sassoon critical analysis

Authors Avatar by julliette (student)

Siegfried sassoon conveys despair and horror in “Attack.” He explores ideas about war, pain, and loss of mind. His thoughts are all of the destruction of humanity due to the oppressive realisation of the terror of war and of the time changes in war. We sense his strong emotion and panic in the tone of the poem: he seems to feel desperate. He evokes the menacing and uncomfortable atmosphere of the battlefield which emphasises how threatening the battle was for the life of the soldiers. My own viewpoint is that this is a poignant reminder of how war destroys what makes us human.

“Attack” is a short poem of 13 lines and only one stanza written in speech rhythm with some rhyme. The detach structure of the poem represents mankind losing direction and righteousness inn life in times of war. The poet adopt a calm yet emotional tone on serious and agonising subject as shown bye the words: “make it stop.” The poem begins with time and ends with reference to Jesus, who western time is centred around. This implies end of humanity. The caesura in “the barrage roars and lifts.” Contrasts with the enjambment that is found throughout the poem.

Join now!

The language used creates effectives images in the poem. The opening lines of “attack” describe the new day emerging as shown by the line: “at dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun.” The ridge, however, is personified as having a living presence and no specific shape, with the use of words “emerges” and “massed.” The sun is described as being almost inactive and personification is use again, as the word “glowering” suggests that nature is both disapproving and antagonistic. The word “smouldering” portrays a vivid images of the sun being covered bye the infected smoke, almost giving a literal ...

This is a preview of the whole essay