Sassoon’s Poetic Protest against the War

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Sassoon's Poetic Protest against the War

Sassoon's views on the war are very correct as he has had experience in several battles and knows what the First World War was like. In his point of view in the poems, everyone whether they be blind, deaf, injured e.t.c, can all play a part in the war and do a duty. He expresses this in the verse where he says, 'There's such splendid work for the blind. This line I find striking. Sassoon knew about the terror and intense atmosphere of the war but he is saying that the people who were killed in the war died to save the country and it's people. He expresses this constantly throughout his poems.

'The General' describes the relationship between the general and his soldiers. The general does not experience the front line attacking and so does not understand what the soldiers go through. He is harsh with them and doesn't take to account about how they feel and how they are coping. The General was determined to win the war and so drummed as much energy into the soldiers as he possibly could. This was an advantage to the soldiers, as they needed to be kept on their feet with positive attitudes, leading them towards success. 'Now the Soldiers he smiled at are most of em dead' suggests the general's character is friendly, but he does not think of the soldiers as humans.

Sassoon expresses the message that the general is sending out to his soldiers. The final two lines of the poem are sarcastic. From this poem, you can tell that there are a lot of criticisms made towards the generals. I feel the general was to blame for the fate of the soldiers because he was the one who forced them to fight up front and without his influence they would have not attended there. The Generals dominant, unjust behavior caused the death of his soldiers. The long pause in the before the last line of the poem indicates irony towards the General. In this poem, Sassoon uses soldiers' slang such as 'swine.' By doing this, it gives the audience knowledge of the background and social class of the soldiers. Using slang is effective in this poem and adds force.
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'Suicide in the trenches' is a very powerful poem. It tells the audience about the stress and torment the soldiers went though, ending up at breaking point and not being able to take the strain any more. They end their lives thinking it's for the best for them so that they can rest in peace and leave the nightmare behind them. Sassoon wrote this poem with bitterness and sorrow, putting all his emotion into it, for he too had been there himself.

In the first verse, Sassoon uses simple language, which describes a soldier who 'grinned ...

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