Sassoon shows his readers the tragic experience of the reality of war by structuring his poem in a way that it does not comprise of any particular scheme and any organisation – with the opening stanza of 13 lines, followed by the second stanza of 11 lines and then a last one with 15 lines. By not succumbing towards any form of poetic structure or the iambic pentameter in this poem, this perhaps suggests that Sassoon intends to convey a message about the chaotic and disarrayed mental state of the soldiers who questions their existence when war is only about fighting and dying.
Not only does structure reflects Sassoon’s exposition, language is also used to elucidate his message. He creates this poem in such a way that it does not consist of any rhyming structure at the end of each lines – creating disorder and a jarring edge when it is read, which further accentuates the chaotic and disarrayed situation of war, taking the readers to sense of violence and danger. Besides that, through the use of personification, Sassoon also successfully makes the poem more realistic by giving the bullets shot by the opponents a life of its own in the third stanza –“bullets spat” – as “spat” gives a sense of rudeness, this phrase indicates how the bullets are being shot in a utterly rude manner, showing the ignorance and lack of careful consideration for the lives of the soldiers from the other side. This analogy helps Sassoon to make his readers feel sympathetic towards the great endurance of the soldiers that fight and die for their country.
He also employs the use of imagery in this context - “galloping fear”, which suggests that Sassoon is trying to compare the fear and terror of the soldiers to be on-going, similarly to a horse as it gallops and by adding the use of “ing”- indicating a future continuous tense, further assist Sassoon to emphasizes the continuation of sufferings and tragedies of the soldiers in the trenches.
What’s more the use of enjambment and his use of punctuation solidify a realistic sensation –“pallid”, “unshaved”, “and thirsty”, and “blind with smoke” – Sassoon descriptive manner about the soldiers’ appearance and state in this line of the first stanza amplifies his exposition to make the poem as real as possible for him to connect with the readers, making them feel anxious and uncomfortable, as though they are “there” in the trenches with the soldiers to experience their endurance in war.
Moreover, Sassoon further emphasizes his exposition by inserting dialogues in the last stanza of Counter-Attack –showing a more realistic approach to his readers – [stand-to and man the fire-step!], [Fire-step... counter-attack!], [O Christ, they’re coming at us!], all these dialogues effectively make the readers feel the intensity of war at the same time, evoking a sense of turmoil and discomfort when reading the poem. Thus, making the poem to seem more realistic as it is by including these dialogues of what the soldiers might say in an encounter with the enemy during the course of the war which contributes to illustrate the tragic experience, extreme aggression and brutality of war.
In conclusion, Sassoon’s clever combinations of various literary techniques has successfully elucidate his exposition about the reality of war and the tragic experience that soldiers are obligated to face to his readers. He also makes the poem to seem as realistic as possible through detailed description of the soldiers’ state and physical appearance in the trenches with the intention to display to his readers the great endurance of the soldiers in an everyday manner during the First World War.
