Within Stanza 2, the action focuses on one man who couldn’t get his gas helmet on in time. “Someone was still yelling out and stumbling (L.11).” Following the officer’s command in line 9, “ecstasy of fumbling” seems a strange phrase to use until we realize that it means a state in which the mind is occupied only with one idea; to get that helmet on. Lines 12-14 consist of a powerful underwater-like metaphor, with yielding to poisonous gas being compared to drowning. “Flound’ring (L.13),” is this poor man struggling in the mud, but it takes on a more shocking image as Owen introduces himself into the action through witnessing his friend dieing in absolute agony. Stanza 3, illustrates the after effects with the man close to death, from detailed imagery, Owen looks back from a new perspective in the light of a recurring nightmare, a friend, dieing, “plunges at me (L.16), before my helpless sight (L.15)”, an image Owen will not forget. Therefore, bringing to light the social and historical realities; of the pressure to fight for your country, and the truth behind it. Now altering attitudes and values of readers what they previously had in mind about the war at this point in the poem.
Stanza four shows how Owen attacks those people at home who support the war’s continuation ignorant of its realities. If only they might experience Owen’s own “smothering dreams (L.17),” which describe the victim’s sufferings with many unpleasant words. The technique in which Owen describes this man goes on in sickening detail, “gargling, froth-corrupted lungs (L.22),” obviously from this gas being used and the man’s “white eyes writhing in his face (L.19).” The “you” whom he addresses in line 17 implies people in general, just imagine this dieing man to be “flung” into a wagon, the “writhing” that indicates a particularly strong kind of pain. Hell seems close with the questionable simile “like a devil’s sick of sin (L.20).” Sick in the sense of perhaps physically or contented. “If you could hear at every jolt (L.21),” there is no gentle stretcher-bearing here but the agony is intensified. Yes, there were “innocent tongues (L.24)” though some tongues were anything but innocent in Owen’s opinion, those who knew perfectly well what was going on but couldn’t care less unless they were experiencing it, such as the retired or higher ranking officers. The sweetness and properness of dieing for one’s country Owen accuses as a lie which children should never be exposed to. Owen’s imagery is harsh and effective, enough to set the heart and mind in sense of understanding, compassion and sympathy thus altering principles and ones approach to the war.
Although Siegfried Sassoon's “Base Details” is considerably different to Owens work, he still demonstrates his negativity towards the division of high ranking military officers and the soldiers who fought on the front lines, whilst still having the ability to startle and shock the reader into a new way of understanding the war, towards the division of high ranking military officers and the soldiers who fought on the front lines. Sassoon saw these officers as to some extent similar to the enemies being fought in the war, in that they seemed to have little consideration for the lives of the men that they were ordering to their deaths. They viewed the soldiers as tools to be used during the war which could be easily replaced from a somewhat endless supply of new young men. The first noticeable thing about the poem is the title “Base Details,” perhaps a pun as ‘Base’ means headquarters as well as a hideout for cowardly officers.
Sassoon's dislike towards the officers is seen through his descriptions of an officer in “Base Details.” Within the first line of the poem, a hateful image is drawn of an officer who looks “fierce” and “bald”, and a “puffy and petulant face (L.4).” From this we can gain a picture of this officer who sits comfortably away from the front lines, ordering the men to death. Sassoon uses lots of adjectives to describe these officers to portray the hatred he has for them. Unlike the clear picture that is given of the officer, the soldiers are given little description, as if they have no faces at all. The only words used to describe them are “glum (L.3)” and “youth (L.9),” which follows with the idea that they are interchangeable and can be disposed of, in the eyes of the officers. Though it is acknowledged that they are being sent to their death, the only regret seems to be that it is simply a “Poor Young Chap (L.6)” whose father may have once been a friend to the officer. Of course these orders would have been much different had these men spent more time on the front lines and got a taste of their own medicine and were forced to deal with the realities of horrors and death that were experienced by the soldiers.
While it is shown that both groups of men go to their death in the end, the officer is able to “toddle safely home and die in bed (L.10),” as if by choice. Then again the soldiers are sent to their death by these same officers; the soldiers are forced “up the line to death (L.3),” which is something that is out of their control since they are thought of as ‘tools’ that can be used by the officers in their war. The army generals would not even be able to comprehend what war is like as he uses the phrase “we lost heavily in this last scrap (L.8),” almost as though they are calling it a ‘scrap’ like a fight between a bunch of school boys. While the officer may try to include himself, by saying that “we've lost heavily (L.8),” it is obvious that he plays a part in the war; he decides the fates of others. “When the war is done and youth stone dead, I’ll toddle safely home and die in bed (L.9&10).” This is an especially good ending at an attempt to startle and shock the reader into developing new values and attitudes towards the war as the soldiers will die amongst the rats; which could possibly loved ones, whilst the officers die peacefully. The structure and technique also plays a big part on how this poem portrays it’s message. The poem is significantly sarcastic but very real, almost like a limerick, but you soon realize that this poem is no laughing matter.
War is often seen as men’s business, they are supposed to do their ‘duty’ for their country, do the fighting, take the risks and make the decisions and maybe die a ‘clean’ death. Women stay at home, take care of the children, and wait for their soldier husbands to come home. Through the poetry of Sassoon and Owen, we can see how the ‘real’ social and historical realities have been recorded; Men lived in rat-infested bottomless holes along muddy trenches that stretched for miles and fought vicious battles that had little glory and a much senseless death. Attitudes and values of the reader are therefore altered into a new perception of understanding the war. The horrific loss of life in WW1 was due largely to the incompetence and exploitation by officers who were situated a safe distance from the fighting and Sassoon evidently explains in “Base Details” As now we understand that enrolling in the war is not just a chance to see the world or go on an adventure, it is a case of misery and suffering for many. “Dulce et decorum est – The old Lie.”
