Siegfried Sassoon is the author of critical war poems, and is known for his rather ‘satirical’ anti war verse. He was an English poet who was motivated to write by his deep sense of patriotism, seasoned with his military experience of the First World War. The news of his brother’s death in war had a rather heavy impact on him; it strengthened the roots of his hatred for war, which casts shadows upon most of his critical works. In 1985, Sassoon was amongst sixteen Great War poets whose names were carved on a rather honourable slate stone at Westminster Abbey’s Poet Corner.
The title of the poem, ‘Does It Matter?’ directly suggests the subject of the stanzas, that is, the reflection of the lives of soldiers who have returned from war, no longer able-bodied, and the cold attitudes of the society towards their disabilities. Sassoon effectively conveys his resentment and disrepute for the society, and their snobbish ways.
The poem begins with a rhetorical question, rather simple and straightforward- Did it matter, if the soldier no longer had legs, due to war? I sense sarcasm when he says that the people would be nice to the soldier anyway, and that he shouldn’t mind when the ‘others come in after hunting’, and ‘gobble’ their food without thinking twice, which reflects the behaviour of wild animals. He refers to the hunters at home blessed with luxuries of a good English breakfast such as ‘muffins and eggs’. The last two lines of the stanza could also insinuate the horrific lives of soldiers in the trenches, where ‘hunters’ refers to the soldiers hunting down their enemies. However, I sense a contrast when Sassoon speaks of the English breakfast. In my opinion, Sassoon has attempted contrasting the lives of hunters and soldiers, who ironically have common aim- to take down their target. However, that is where similarities end. The hunters are actually blessed men, who have the luxuries and commodities they need. Soldiers, on the other hand, have no luxury of eggs and muffins for break fast, and it is a deep contrast in the first stanza of the poem.
