James Walker
September 3, 2015
Poems
1102
Sassoon and Owen World War 1 was one of the most memorable wars in history; it was nothing like people had ever seen before. The violence, the tragedies of so many, and life at home versus life at war were only truly known and impacted those who survived. Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen are survivors of WWI, who authors of poems that describe the feeling of being a solider and the misinterpretation of those who were not soldiers. Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was a son of wealthy family; his father was a banker of a Jewish Baghdadi and his mother was from an Anglo-Catholic family. Like many young men of his class, Sassoon, before the First World War, spent his time enjoying the leisure life of sports …show more content…
Their poems, in spite of all differences in style, technique, language, and approach, expose the inhuman effects of war on the soldiers; the dehumanization of soldiers by their superiors, who showed clear dispassion to the fate and suffering of those soldiers; the ineffectiveness and hopelessness of their trench life, and the loss of their youth and life in the war; thus these poems are complete with humanistic feelings toward young soldiers in the trenches. These poems have become historical documents of the daily life of soldiers at the front lines during the First World War, mocking and judging the carelessness of the politicians at home who prolonged the war to achieve personal glories for themselves without any regard to the depressed conditions of soldiers and the high casualties among …show more content…
He says: “O German mother dreaming by the fire, While you are knitting socks to send your son His face is trodden deeper in the mud” (p. 3). Sassoon judges the war as a futile, aggressive means that causes much suffering for innocent young men who were cheated to go through it without any solid conviction in its just causes that may form a real incentive for them to go on fighting willingly. The main quality in his verse is anger, as most critics agree, yet his use of simple language which comes near to the conversational speech, his straightforward dealing with the basic concerns of soldiers in the trenches, his avoidance of artistry and high rhetorical devices, his use of short verses and common poetic forms, especially the poem, and his sympathy with the soldiers in their suffering all make his poems a faithful register of the First World War and its effects on those who fought
September 3, 2015
Poems
1102
Sassoon and Owen World War 1 was one of the most memorable wars in history; it was nothing like people had ever seen before. The violence, the tragedies of so many, and life at home versus life at war were only truly known and impacted those who survived. Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen are survivors of WWI, who authors of poems that describe the feeling of being a solider and the misinterpretation of those who were not soldiers. Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was a son of wealthy family; his father was a banker of a Jewish Baghdadi and his mother was from an Anglo-Catholic family. Like many young men of his class, Sassoon, before the First World War, spent his time enjoying the leisure life of sports …show more content…
Their poems, in spite of all differences in style, technique, language, and approach, expose the inhuman effects of war on the soldiers; the dehumanization of soldiers by their superiors, who showed clear dispassion to the fate and suffering of those soldiers; the ineffectiveness and hopelessness of their trench life, and the loss of their youth and life in the war; thus these poems are complete with humanistic feelings toward young soldiers in the trenches. These poems have become historical documents of the daily life of soldiers at the front lines during the First World War, mocking and judging the carelessness of the politicians at home who prolonged the war to achieve personal glories for themselves without any regard to the depressed conditions of soldiers and the high casualties among …show more content…
He says: “O German mother dreaming by the fire, While you are knitting socks to send your son His face is trodden deeper in the mud” (p. 3). Sassoon judges the war as a futile, aggressive means that causes much suffering for innocent young men who were cheated to go through it without any solid conviction in its just causes that may form a real incentive for them to go on fighting willingly. The main quality in his verse is anger, as most critics agree, yet his use of simple language which comes near to the conversational speech, his straightforward dealing with the basic concerns of soldiers in the trenches, his avoidance of artistry and high rhetorical devices, his use of short verses and common poetic forms, especially the poem, and his sympathy with the soldiers in their suffering all make his poems a faithful register of the First World War and its effects on those who fought