suicide in the trenches
Introduction : 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 naïve boy is placed before us;
‘Simple’ tells us that he is innocent, perhaps rather naïve, and doesn’t understand the concept of war.
‘Grinned at life in empty joy’ suggests to us that he was pleased by anything, a happy young man. He was young and had no worries because he enjoyed life and did as he pleased. He made life seem easy and happy even when times were bad.
‘Slept soundly through the lonesome dark’ tells us that the dark did not afraid him. We can think from this line that perhaps he would never sleep soundly again after spending time in the trenches, as dark meant the threat of attack there.
‘Whistled with the early lark’ creates an image of a rather enthusiastic young man who awoke bright and early, and was happy to be awake and living. Again, we can gather from this that in the trenches, men were not happy to wake, and to them, living meant pain. As ‘lark’ is a spring bird, it seems to represent here youthfulness.
However, after this stanza, the image of a happy young man is obliterated by the dark, depressing time that is put before us, and we begin to feel the depression of the young man;
‘Cowed and glum’ tells us that he is no longer rising early with the lark, he is now longer happy, but hiding away and depressed. The depression of the soldier is clearly emphasized in this line; ‘cowed’ tells us that he is turning away, intimidated and scared of war. ‘Glum’ sums up his emotion; he is depressed, gloomy, tired, upset.
‘Crumps and lice and lack of rum’ this line adds to the
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 naïve boy is placed before us;
‘Simple’ tells us that he is innocent, perhaps rather naïve, and doesn’t understand the concept of war.
‘Grinned at life in empty joy’ suggests to us that he was pleased by anything, a happy young man. He was young and had no worries because he enjoyed life and did as he pleased. He made life seem easy and happy even when times were bad.
‘Slept soundly through the lonesome dark’ tells us that the dark did not afraid him. We can think from this line that perhaps he would never sleep soundly again after spending time in the trenches, as dark meant the threat of attack there.
‘Whistled with the early lark’ creates an image of a rather enthusiastic young man who awoke bright and early, and was happy to be awake and living. Again, we can gather from this that in the trenches, men were not happy to wake, and to them, living meant pain. As ‘lark’ is a spring bird, it seems to represent here youthfulness.
However, after this stanza, the image of a happy young man is obliterated by the dark, depressing time that is put before us, and we begin to feel the depression of the young man;
‘Cowed and glum’ tells us that he is no longer rising early with the lark, he is now longer happy, but hiding away and depressed. The depression of the soldier is clearly emphasized in this line; ‘cowed’ tells us that he is turning away, intimidated and scared of war. ‘Glum’ sums up his emotion; he is depressed, gloomy, tired, upset.
‘Crumps and lice and lack of rum’ this line adds to the