The Effect by Siegfried Sassoon
“The Effect” by Siegfried Sassoon
The Effect is about destroying the myth of death as either a desirable end for enemies, or a heroic resolution for patriotic soldiers. The poem follows the interior monologue of a soldier who has spoken to a war correspondent (reporter) told him someone he’d interviewed had said he’d never seen so many dead before. It is simply a poem about “The Effect” of seeing so many countless dead. Sassoon in his declaration says he has “seen and endured the sufferings of the troops” and this expands the idea of how profound and devastating witnessing millions of terrible deaths can be upon the human mind. “When Dick was killed last week he looked like that, flapping along... like a fish” –this is the typical use of direct speech which is often used in Sassoon’s poetry. This animal imagery creates an ironically comical image and through this simile Sassoon is trying to prove that there is no honour or dignity in dying at war. The use of the verb “flapping” shows the helplessness of the soldier and dehumanizes him and this is effective because it evokes powerful emotions of sympathy in a reader.
It is typical of Sassoon’s poetry since the whole poem has a very bitter, painful feel to it. “Don’t count ‘em; they’re too many,” –shows the horrific extent of death that people involved in the war must have had to deal with. Through this line Sassoon shows the sheer devastation of death to such an extreme that nobody should even attempt to count how many were dead because the figure was just too colossal. This poem is a very typical war poem of Sassoon’s as it shows the utter despair a person must have felt in that situation and the poem evokes a great sense of sadness in the reader which many of his poems do.
The poem has a very bitter tone to it. ‘“How peaceful are the dead’ who put that silly gag in someone’s head?” The use of the adjective “silly” highlights the mocking tone; Sassoon is angered by those who glorify death and he speaks of
The Effect is about destroying the myth of death as either a desirable end for enemies, or a heroic resolution for patriotic soldiers. The poem follows the interior monologue of a soldier who has spoken to a war correspondent (reporter) told him someone he’d interviewed had said he’d never seen so many dead before. It is simply a poem about “The Effect” of seeing so many countless dead. Sassoon in his declaration says he has “seen and endured the sufferings of the troops” and this expands the idea of how profound and devastating witnessing millions of terrible deaths can be upon the human mind. “When Dick was killed last week he looked like that, flapping along... like a fish” –this is the typical use of direct speech which is often used in Sassoon’s poetry. This animal imagery creates an ironically comical image and through this simile Sassoon is trying to prove that there is no honour or dignity in dying at war. The use of the verb “flapping” shows the helplessness of the soldier and dehumanizes him and this is effective because it evokes powerful emotions of sympathy in a reader.
It is typical of Sassoon’s poetry since the whole poem has a very bitter, painful feel to it. “Don’t count ‘em; they’re too many,” –shows the horrific extent of death that people involved in the war must have had to deal with. Through this line Sassoon shows the sheer devastation of death to such an extreme that nobody should even attempt to count how many were dead because the figure was just too colossal. This poem is a very typical war poem of Sassoon’s as it shows the utter despair a person must have felt in that situation and the poem evokes a great sense of sadness in the reader which many of his poems do.
The poem has a very bitter tone to it. ‘“How peaceful are the dead’ who put that silly gag in someone’s head?” The use of the adjective “silly” highlights the mocking tone; Sassoon is angered by those who glorify death and he speaks of