Base Details is a war poem written by Siegfried Sassoon in 1918. The year of 1918 was a crucial one in the First World War, and Base Details seeks to explore some of the bitterness and cruelty

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Nicklas Bill B. Hansen        English        3u

Base Details

Base Details  is a war poem written by Siegfried Sassoon in 1918. The year of 1918 was a crucial one in the First World War, and Base Details seeks to explore some of the bitterness and cruelty of the war era, expressed from the point of view of a common soldier.

The poem consists of a single stanza, with ten lines. The rhyme scheme is pretty straight forward and consistent, utilising a standard “A,B,A,B” format throughout the poem. The stylistic devices used are, however, quite distinct. Unlike many poems, metaphors don't seem to play a vital part – in fact, the poem doesn't have a single metaphor. Instead, there's quite an excessive use of subjective adjectives, which greatly helps setting the tone and message of the poem. Most notable is perhaps how the author chooses to purposely understate serious issues, in order to suggest patriotic and sympathetic feelings for the reader. An example of such an understatement would be line 7 which says:

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“Yes we've lost heavily in this last scrap.”

“Scrap” in this context means “battle”. However, we'd normally see “scrap” used in context with normal, unimportant fights, and even used as another term for “junk” or “garbage”. This implies that the 'major' who articulates this line is obviously understating and fails to acknowledge  the consequences, dramatic events, and horrors of the particular battle, thus making the reader feel disgusted about this 'major' character.

Another example of this would be adjectives such as “guzzling”, “gulping”, and “toddle”, which really explores the laissez-faire and immaterial attitude of the 'major' character. “Guzzling” ...

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This essay explores language at word level well and shows a good understanding of the choice of words by Sassoon and how these words were created to successfully illustrate the meaning the poet was trying to communicate to his readers. In order to develop analysis the literary devices should have been explored and the effects they created - for example the use of alliteration in the poem. Exploration of the speaker would have enabled further analysis of the tone of the poem and the fact Sassoon was using the poem as a platform to air his true feelings about the war and those in charge. The poem is a short one and it would have been possible to look a wider range of points in more depth to illustrate a full and develo