Siegfried Sassoon Counter-Attack & Rupert Brooke The Dead

Transcription

1 English Presentation First World War Poetry Siegfried Sassoon Counter-Attack & Rupert Brooke The Dead

2 Siegfried Sassoon Born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1886 Lived the pastoral life of a young squire: fox hunting, playing cricket, golfing and writing romantic verses Sassoon s reaction to the horrors of war were all the more bitter and violent, both his reactions through poetry and on the battlefield emphasised this Protested against the war, claiming that the insensitive political leadership was the greater enemy than the Germans Suffered shell-shock and was sent to the military hospital at Craiglockhart where he first met and influenced Wilfred Owen

3 Rupert Brooke Born in Rugby in 1887 where his father was a housemaster His dominating mother exerted a powerful influence on him in his youth Travelled around Europe where he prepared a thesis and studied at Cambridge University Roamed across North America and the South Seas sending back narratives and poems for the Westminster Gazette Entered the war the day after his 27 th birthday and he was already a well established poet Not afraid to shock his audience with graphic descriptions and grim accounts of war in his poetry Was not actually considered as a war poet- not in the same sense as Sassoon and Owen, more of a pre-war poet

4 ounter Attack e d gained our first objective hours before hile dawn broke like a face with blinking eyes, allid, unshaved and thirsty, blind with smoke. hings seemed alright at first. We held their line, ith bombers posted, Lewis guns well placed, nd clink of shovels deepening the shallow trench. he place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legs igh-booted, sprawled and grovelled along the saps nd trunks, face downward, in the sucking mud. allowed like trodden sand-bags loosely filled;

5 nd naked sodden buttocks, mats of hair, ulged, clotted heads slept in the plastering slime. nd then the rain began,- the jolly old rain! yawning soldier knelt against the bank, taring across the morning blear with fog; e wondered when the Allemands would get busy; nd then, of course, they started with five-nines raversing, sure as fate, and never a dud. ute in the clamour of shells he watched them burst pouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell,

6 hile posturing giants dissolved in drifts of smoke. e crouched and flinched, dizzy with galloping fear, ick for escape,- Loathing the strangled horror nd butchered, frantic gestures of the dead. n officer came blundering down the trench: tand-to and man the fire-step! On he went asping and bawling, Fire-step counter-attack! hen the haze lifted. Bombing on the right own the old sap: machine guns on the left; nd stumbling figures looming out in front.

7 Christ, they re coming at us! Bullets spat nd he remembered his rifle rapid fire nd started blazing wildly then a bang rumpled and spun him sideways, knocked him out o grunt and wriggled: none heeded him; he choked nd fought the flapping veils of smothering gloom, ost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans own, and down, and down, he sank and drowned, leeding to death. The counter-attack had failed.

8 Counter-Attack 40 lines set out in 3 stanzas Sassoon gives a grim account of a failed counter-attack The opening stanza sets the scene for the reader, and Sassoon s tone is more positive in this stanza than anywhere else throughout the rest of the poem; Things seemed alright at first. We held their line. Sassoon uses imagery to describe the horrors around him that are symbolic of dead soldiers; Trunks, face downward, in the sucking mud, Wallowed like trodden sand-bags loosely filled. Speaking of his fellow soldiers, Sassoon says; Bulged, clotted heads slept in the plastering slime. Here the soldiers are not sleeping, they are dead.

9 Counter-Attack Sassoon s tone changes greatly at the start of the second stanza, and this change is represented by sarcasm in the last line of the first stanza; And then the rain began- the jolly old rain! The second stanza clearly portrays how the soldiers felt in battle, and Sassoon says; sure as fate, and never a dud. This line suggests that each soldier must face his fate in battle, and that any one of them could die next, as this war is real and not a game. Sassoon uses imagery of hell to emphasise the chaos and danger faced by the soldiers; Spouting dark earth and wire with gusts from hell. It s like Sassoon feels as though all hell is erupting from beneath their feet, hence the line, gusts from hell.

10 Counter-Attack The third and final stanza explains the failure of the counter-attack. Breaks in the sentences gives the reader an immense sense of confusion and mayhem in the battle, and the incompetence and disorganisation of the English officers are brought to light. On he went Gasping and bawling. Fire-step counter-attack! The line, And he remembered his rifle shows that soldiers were so frightened and shocked in battle that they didn t even remember to return fire to the enemy. Another image used by Sassoon is flapping veils of smothering gloom which is a sensual image indicating that the soldiers were overwhelmed by the thick, dirty smoke that filled the air.

11 Counter-Attack Alliteration at the end of the poem, Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned, gives the poem an effective harsh and dreary tone, and the repetition of the letter d helps the reader to associate words like death, destruction and devastation with the poem, even if they are not actually mentioned. As this is a poem about war, the reader would expect to be bombarded with glamorous words like courageous, heroic and bravery, but instead the reader is inundated with words not stereotypically associated with heroic soldiers of the Great War ; words like blundering, frantic, fear, loathing and confusion. Sassoon is evidently an anti-war poet and recollects the grim reality of war with a huge amount of detail but also with a blatant feeling of despair and resentment towards the conflict and clearly portrays his feelings about the brutality of war.

12 he Dead low out, you bugles, over the rich dead! here s none of these so lonely and poor of old, ut dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold hese laid the world away; poured out the red weet wine of youth; gave up the years to be f work and joy, and that unhoped serene. hat men call age; and those who would have been, heir sons, they gave their immortality.

13 low, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth, oliness, lacked so long,and Love, and Pain. onour has come back, as a king, to earth, nd paid his subjects with a royal wage; nd Nobleness walks in our ways again; nd we have come into our heritage.

14 The Dead 14 lines set out in two stanzas Brooke tells the reader about death in battle and about the honour dead soldiers receive after they have given their life in battle In the opening line Brooke refers to the dead soldiers as the rich dead, and then says dying has made us rarer gifts than gold. Brooke implies that there is a great honour that comes with dying, one that is more priceless than any wealth or reward on earth. The lines, Poured out the red sweet wine of youth, is a metaphor of the blood shed by the soldiers, but it is glorified by Brooke who sees bloodshed as a very honourable service

15 The Dead The line Their sons they gave, their immortality means that even though the soldiers are dead, their name and memory will live on forever in their sons. Once again the second stanza starts with blowing bugles, and this shows the military emphasis on the poem, as the bugles would be played as a sign of respect and memory for the dead. The poem ends with the line, And we have come into our heritage, which is once again an indication by Brooke that dying for your country is an honour and almost like a birthright The theme throughout the poem is payment and reward, and words like gold, nobleness and royal wage reinforce this theme throughout the poem. Brooke is evidently a pro-war poet, showing very powerful patriotic feelings in his poems.

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