“The York Hussars were one of the King’s German Legion”. They had brilliant splendid horses, and most significantly their foreign air and moustaches which were rare at that time. They attracted admirers of both sexes wherever they went. When they came “a golden radiance flashed in upon the lives of the people here, and charged all youthful thought with emotional interest”. Soldiers were monumental objects then, and war was thought of as a “glorious thing”.
Despite the fact they were monumental things and everyone admired them, most of the Hussars were homesick.
Mathaus Tina’s relationship with Phyllis Grove at first, was not very strong. But as they started to see each other more often, they gradually fell in love. The first when Matthaus Tina saw Phyllis, he blushed and walked away. The second time, they talked a little. The meetings after that took place more often. One such meeting, he waited till Phyllis came, and that was long after the final trumpet to go back to the base. Still he stayed on. When Phyllis came out, she told him to go or he would be demoted, but he replied, “I hate the army. I care more for a minute of your company than for all the promotion in the world”. When he returned to base, he lost his stripes and was reduced to a private.
Arafath Ahmed
In one of their meetings, Matthaus proposes to Phyllis. She is “amazed rather than shocked”. He then tells her his plan to escape to Germany. She decides to go ahead with the plan. Later on that night, Mr. Gould, her fiancé returns from a trip. He has bought her a large present. She thinks again and finally decides not to go with Matthaus.
The reason why Matthaus is deserting the army is because he misses his mother and he is feeling very homesick.
Matthaus, Christoph and two other comrades go ahead with the plan. But they mistaken her bearings and steer into Jersey. As a result they are handed over to the authorities. Matthaus and Christoph intercede for the other two, they are let free but Matthaus and Christoph are executed.
Hardy makes the execution dramatic by setting it on a foggy, misty morning.
As a reader, I was surprised. The reason being, Matthaus and Christoph had set their escape plan out really carefully. I also wasn’t surprised. The reason for this is the title. The title suggests that something sad will happen, and the sad thing was the death of Matthaus and Christoph.
The Deserter is a about a man, who has been “dogged” with fear. He is afraid of death and decides to desert the battlefield. He is caught and shot by his own side.
The soldier “whom fear had dogged by night and day” was afraid to face the German guns, so instead he took the risk of facing his own side, he ran away and was shot by his own men. The irony in this is that whichever way he ran, he would have died anyway. Another ironic thing is that his mother thinks he died in battle, but she doesn’t know “He lies in a deserters grave.
The poets view is, that who are to judge the deserter. “God makes a man of flesh and blood, who yearns to live and not to die. So this would mean it is natural to fear death. I think it doesn’t matter if someone is afraid of death or not, because everyone has to die one day, no matter what.
The way in which the soldiers in this poem and The Melancholy of the Hussar of the German Legion are very similar. They are both shot by their own men for desertion and the setting is similar too, on a misty, foggy morning. The way in which they are shot is different. Matthias is shot for deserting the army, but the other soldier is shot for deserting the battlefield.
Suicide in the Trenches is about a boy who enjoyed life before war, but he then joined the army and turned very depressed and unhappy. He then ends up shooting himself in the head.
Arafath Ahmed
Before war life the boy was happy and joyful, “grinned at life in empty joy”. Life in the army had a mental and physical effect on him. “In winter trenches, cowed and glum, With crumps and lice and lack of rum, He put a bullet through his brain.” Sassoon’s attitude to war is a negative one. Her view is she doesn’t want anyone to what actually happens at war because it is too horrifying, “You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye, Who cheer when soldier lads go marching by, Sneak home and pray you’ll never know, The hell where youth and laughter go.”
There actually isn’t any similarity with any of the other poems and stories, apart from the fact he died and no one spoke of him again.
We find out about the miseries of soldiers lives and other things too. Things like, what happens when a soldier deserts, or when he get really depressed or when a soldier get homesick. There differences and similarities between all the poems. Things like, how the soldiers were executed, why they deserted etc. The general attitude from the writers is, war is a bad thing. The message is, war is not what it seems.
