Died of Wounds was written by another well-known ww1 Poet, Siegfriel Sassoon. Sassoon was a brave and well- respected officer.

Died Of Wounds

Died of Wounds was written by another well-known ww1 Poet, Siegfriel Sassoon. Sassoon was a brave and well- respected officer. He won the military cross for courage and fought at several battles, yet he also detested the slaughter and the misconduct of the war by generals and politicians.

Sassoon’s poems are aimed to tell the truth about the war that he had fought in. He used a plain, direct style, often bringing in soldiers slang. Also a pattern of sharp lines often leads to a ‘ knock – out blow’ in the last verse. Died of the Wounds was based on a dying soldier who Sassoon had seen in a hospital near the Somme in July 1916.

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Sassoon firstly focuses on the soldiers face in the first verse. He uses the words ‘ wet’, ‘white’ and ‘ miserable eyes’. The word ‘ white’ emphasises the illness of the soldier and also the fear of dying. The soldiers face was a face full of suffering. In this first he describes how he ‘ Brought Nurses to him more groans than sighs’. This line indicates that the nurses came to him more because of his pain and the look of his face. He describes the physical condition of the dying soldier. By saying “ he did the business well”, highlights that he was a good soldier who was in the thick of the war. Some people said at the time of ww1 that people who came back wounded are looked up to as heroes of the war. Sassoon concentrates on sounds to show that the soldier is dying in a troubled way, that he was not happy and that it wasn’t a peaceful way to die.

In the next verse Sassoon describes how he was going back to when he was at the frontline in the opening line.” The ward grew dark; but he was still complaining”. Sassoon, in the second verse uses speech to make the poem seem more realistic and that the event is happening at present. In this verse Sassoon uses soldier slang He uses soldiers slang to explain the memories of despair about the dying soldier condition. An example of this is “ O Christ, and what’s the good?”

In the last verse Sassoon describes how there was a threat of being shoot by snipers, “ They Snipe like hell!” To warn one of the soldiers Sassoon says, “ O Dicke, don’t go out”. The phrase “ Slightly Wounded” describes the dying soldier as a casualty of the war. At the very end of the poem he uses the word “ smiling “ to emphasises that the wounded solider is at peace at last.

In comparison, Wilfred Owen also fought in the www1 like Sassoon knows the dangers, terror and suffering that war causes. I feel that the poem benefits from Sassoon’s experiences in the war, as he knows the truth about war. In this poem Sassoon aimed to upset people who glorified war. Sassoon in the poem has the ability to use very few words but they say a lot in them