Base Details is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon and is about how betteroff the majors were in the First World War, compared to the good men

for their country. He says what hewould be like and do if he was a major and makes a mockery out ofthem. He also tries to show injustice because the old soldiers livedand the young, fit soldiers died.The words used in this poem are very simple and direct but are veryeffective. Sassoon proves that the majors are lazy and in poorcondition by using certain words and sentences,'If I was fierce, and bald, and out of breath, I'd be with the scarletmajors at the base'.Here Sassoon is saying that if he was big, fat and got easily out ofbreath, he would be a scarlet major (refers to high up rank, and alsothe colour red equalling anger and unfitness).'You'd see me with my puffy petulant face'.This implies that the majors are fat by the word 'puffy' and petulantmeans impatient and easily irritated. The poet also proves that themajors are stuck up by using words like 'glum' and 'chap'. These arewords that the working class would not have usually used. The name'Base' is the military quarters but also implies that the majors don'tfight, they get fatter and more unfit and all they have to do is reada 'roll of honour'.Only few figures of speech are used. For example, an onomatopoeia isused when he describes the majors as 'guzzling and gulping at the besthotel'. This also suggests that the majors are fat because the wordsare used to give the sense that the majors are eating like pigs.In the poem, Sassoon acts as if he is a major and says that if he wasreading the list of young fighting men who had died (roll of honour),he would say, 'I used to know his father well; Yes, we've lost heavilyin this last scrap.' This takes away the seriousness and is almostlike saying that the soldiers died in a small fight that was not thatserious. This shows that the majors had no conscience and their lifewas too easy. It also shows again, how stuck up the majors were. Thisalso shows the anger from Sassoon coming through.The last two sentences of the poem have more of an effect, show realinjustice and are the two most poignant lines because they tell howwhen the war is done, and 'youth stone dead' meaning all the youngsoldiers are dead. 'I'd toddle safely home and die- in bed. Toddle isan excellent word because it shows that the majors are old and unfit -again. Also, the word 'safely' makes the reader feel anger because thesoldiers were not this when they were sent to war. When it mentions'die in bed', it gives us an image of the majors dying old in thecomfort of their own home and this is wrong because many youngsoldiers died away from home, fighting for their country.The feeling of this poem is very sarcastic and bitter. You can seethat the poet is very angry at the majors who prolonged the war fortheir benefit so they could get richer.  I loved the way Sassoon saidthat if he was a major then he would be unfit and do nothing, etc. The poet makes the anger come through. It makes the reader (including myself) feel great anger towards the majors.