What attitudes to World War One does Siegfried Sassoon display in his poetry?

Authors Avatar

What attitudes to World War One does Siegfried Sassoon display in his poetry?

    During the period from 1914-1918 one of the most tragic events to happen to mankind occurred in the form of World War One, in fact people have described it as, ‘The war to end all wars’. Thousands upon thousands of young men and boys rushed to the front line to fight for their country feeling it was their honorary duty and would have been shunned if they did not, in what was called, ‘The great and glorious war’, which is so very ironic. Never has the contrast between fantasy and reality been so valid and revealing. To help emphasise the soldier’s outlook many of them wrote about their experiences in the form of letters or poetry, of these, perhaps the best example to use would be Siegfried Sassoon.

    Sassoon makes the readers aware of the horrors and the terrible things that happened to soldiers in World War One, using a matter of fact style of writing. He tells of how people at home thought it was brave and noble for a man to fight for his country, with little understanding of the tragedies and the horrors of war, of how the superior officers totally mishandled the war, letting it continue unnecessarily long, the hell like conditions, and of how many died the most horrific deaths imaginable. He tells us how men began to accept death, using euphemisms to shut out terror and emotions in their mind in such dreadful conditions.

    Sassoon won the military cross for bravery and was well respected by those people around him. Without a doubt Sassoon has the right to comment on the war for he fought in the front line for many years and experienced the hell for himself .  While he respected the men who fought alongside him, he felt that the war was dragging on too long because it was being completely mishandled, in fact he despised the war and the attitudes of many towards it.

    Sassoon was, apparently, the first person to write sustainable poetry, and was critical of the progress of the war and he described its horrors unsparingly and compared life in the war metaphorically to ‘hell’. Writing poetry was Sassoon’s way of releasing the anger he felt towards the war, and his poems display many of the emotions and attitudes he was aware of. His poetry is a primary historical source of life during the war as his attitudes to different aspects of the war are clear in his brutally honest poetry. His poetry is written, not only with excellent literary style, but also to warn future generations of the horrors of war, a warning people have ignored repeatedly. He did not glorify the war but was quick to condemn it and reflect on the total waste and loss of life. He despised the war! He concentrates his poetry on four main areas: considering life in the trenches; the horrors of the war; attitudes to and of the superior officers; and citizens at home. He is critical of all of these things and shows vividly the horrors of war, especially for those who have never experienced such a war.

Join now!

    Sassoon shows how the soldiers at the front line were subject to degrading and inhumane conditions in the trenches, which were filled with ‘bottomless mud’ and infested with rats and fleas. Mud and the water made it very difficult to get around, another factor, which would break down the soldiers mentally.

    The soldiers in the trenches were also exposed to serious mental stress caused by horrific scenes of death and suffering, made worse by the lack of sleep and freezing conditions, both night and day. This kind of nightmarish weather would have made men miserable, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay