How Sassoon Captures the Brutality, Futility and Horror of Trench Warfare Towards His Audiences

“I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.” – Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was a well known English poet who had gained recognition by writing about his experiences in the trenches as a soldier during WWI. Sassoon uses his experience to express the suffering he had undertaken on the battlefield which were described as brutalising, horrific and an unjustifiable waste of human lives. Thus it is through these practices that allow Sassoon to capture the brutality, futility and horror of trench warfare towards his audiences. Throughout all the works of Sassoon, four poems have stood out to demonstrate these three themes. Brutality being illustrated through ‘Counter Attack’ and ‘Suicide in the Trenches’, ‘ The Hero’ and ‘Does it Matter?’ demonstrating futility whilst ‘‘Counter Attack’ and ‘Suicide in the Trenches’ expressing horror.
Brutality - the trait of extreme cruelty. ‘Counter Attack’ illustrates brutality through the quote “And butchered, frantic gestures of the dead,” a hyperbole and metaphor has been used to create this ferocious scene. Juxtaposition has also been used to express the soldiers’ movements’ in contrast to those from the dead. With the use of these techniques it allows the audience to visualise the brutal aftermath of an all too common battle. “Down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned,” repetition of the word ‘down’ has been employed emphasising the soldiers’ brutal death as well as generating harsh, visual imagery.
In ‘Suicide in the Trenches’, the statement “The hell where youth and laughter go,” juxtaposition is utilised to reveal that war is of horror and viciousness which is comparable to hell in taking away the innocence of soldiers. Also, “He put a bullet through his brain,” Sassoon has made this statement extremely direct and clinical giving it a dramatic effect when reading. There is the use of vivid imagery which assists in