The words used in this poem are very simple and direct but are very effective. Sassoon proves that the majors are lazy and in poor condition by using certain words and sentences,
‘If I was fierce, and bald, and out of breath, I’d be with the scarlet majors at the base’.
Here Sassoon is saying that if he was big, fat and got easily out of breath, he would be a scarlet major (refers to high up rank, and also the colour red equalling anger and unfitness).
‘You’d see me with my puffy petulant face’.
This implies that the majors are fat by the word ‘puffy’ and petulant means impatient and easily irritated. The poet also proves that the majors are stuck up by using words like ‘glum’ and ‘chap’. These are words that the working class would not have usually used. The name ‘Base’ is the military quarters but also implies that the majors don’t fight, they get fatter and more unfit and all they have to do is read a ‘roll of honour’.
Only few figures of speech are used. For example, an onomatopoeia is used when he describes the majors as ‘guzzling and gulping at the best hotel’. This also suggests that the majors are fat because the words are used to give the sense that the majors are eating like pigs.
In the poem, Sassoon acts as if he is a major and says that if he was reading the list of young fighting men who had died (roll of honour), he would say, ‘I used to know his father well; Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’ This takes away the seriousness and is almost like saying that the soldiers died in a small fight that was not that serious. This shows that the majors had no conscience and their life was too easy. It also shows again, how stuck up the majors were. This also shows the anger from Sassoon coming through.
The last two sentences of the poem have more of an effect, show real injustice and are the two most poignant lines because they tell how when the war is done, and ‘youth stone dead’ meaning all the young soldiers are dead. ‘I’d toddle safely home and die- in bed. Toddle is an excellent word because it shows that the majors are old and unfit – again. Also, the word ‘safely’ makes the reader feel anger because the soldiers were not this when they were sent to war. When it mentions ‘die in bed’, it gives us an image of the majors dying old in the comfort of their own home and this is wrong because many young soldiers died away from home, fighting for their country.
The feeling of this poem is very sarcastic and bitter. You can see that the poet is very angry at the majors who prolonged the war for their benefit so they could get richer.
I really enjoyed ‘Base Details’ because I loved the way Sassoon said that if he was a major then he would be unfit and do nothing, etc. I also enjoyed the way the poet made the anger come through. It makes the reader (including myself) feel great anger towards the majors.
