Analysis Of Suicide In The Trenches By Siegfried Sassoon

â€Å"Suicide in the Trenches† by Siegfried Sassoon conveys the horrors of war and the terrible hypocrisy of its supporters through a dark, grim tone. Sassoon writes this poem from a place of personal experience. He himself was a soldier in the first world war. He went into the war as a jingoist, much like those depicted in the poem. Soon after joining the war, Sassoon realizes how terrible war is. This fits in perfectly with the progression of the World War I poetry movement. The movement shows a stark change from optimistic, abstract poems showing beauty to dark, bleak poems showing the horrors of reality. Sassoon writes this poem to show how terrible and hypocritical the people who condone the war truly are. The speaker uses an example of†¦show more content†¦The words ‘simple’ and ‘boy’ have a connotation of innocence. This adds to the idea that the boy who the first two stanzas of the poem talk about is innocent before he is corrupted b y war. However, the poet inserts his view of reality into his description of the boy in the second half of the first stanza. He describes the boy by saying he, â€Å"slept soundly through the lonesome dark†(3). The speaker chooses to convey the boy’s innocence by saying that he is unaffected by the ‘lonesome dark’. By using the phrase, ‘The lonesome dark’, the speaker presents the world as a lonely place that only the most innocent and pure people can truly be happy in. This hint of darkness also introduces the grim tone and foreshadows the dark turn that will come in the next stanza of the poem. In the beginning of the second stanza, the poet develops the idea of the loneliness and darkness of war. The poet introduces the setting for the poem by saying, â€Å"In winter trenches, cowed and glum†(5). Through the use of ‘winter’ as the season, the speaker adds to the dark theme. Winter often has the connotation of loneliness and coldness. If they had used summer or spring, it would not have had the same substantial contribution to the theme. Instead, it would have detracted from the gloominess of the rest of the stanza. The use of ‘glum’ also adds to the grim theme. Glum connotes sadness, depression and despair. All of these ideas are fleshed out later on in the stanza. In the second half of theShow MoreRelatedsuicide in the trenches1614 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction : Siegfried Sassoon’s poem, Suicide in the trenches, successfully demonstrates conflict during a world war through its form, meaning and structure. a STEP-UP analysis clearly reveals the conflict conveyed in this poem. Subject matter: the poem is about the depression of a young soldier. The depression of this young soldier before he commits suicide is clearly displayed in the poem. At the start of the poem, the image of a happy, young, and perhaps rather naà ¯ve boy is placed beforeRead MoreSuicide in the Trenches- Analysis1079 Words   |  5 PagesSuicide In The Trenches In my analysis, I will demonstrate how Siegfred Sassoon has used many different language techniques to show his perspective on the true meaning of war. For example, the poet has used simplistic diction that creates an image of the destruction of a â€Å"simple soldier boy†. At first we see him whistling, this then degrades to depression which lead him to committing suicide. Siegfred Sassoon concludes his poem with anger and a powerful message. â€Å"Sneak home and pray you’llRead MoreSuicide in the Trenches Analysis Essay1105 Words   |  5 PagesSuicide in the Trenches – an analysis What is the meaning of war? What is war like? How do soldiers feel in a war? Glorious? Depressed? This poem accurately shows the harsh but sadly true reality of war - death, suicide and depression. Indeed, as quoted by Sir Williams Henry - â€Å"Nobody in his right mind would enjoy war†. The point of view is third person. This is effective in showing one case of suicide, in third person observation, representing the depression and desire to quickly die in everyoneRead MoreEssay on A Comparison of World War I Poetry2088 Words   |  9 Pageshelp create new fundamental ideas and values towards our society. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of the War Poetry during the Great War along with comparing and contrasting two talented renowned poets; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967). We tend to focus on the definition of War Poetry as poems that concentrated on the subject of war, which are written during a war that seems to have a noticeable influence on the poet . The crucial focus here is one war in