Not About Heroes - page 65-66 (David's Death)

Page 65-66

From "When I first went out to France..." to "the same madness" 

In this extract Sassoon describes his close friend David's death,

He describes David as a "young officer" this emphasizes the innocence and lack of experience most of the soldiers has and just how young they were, which the case was for many soldiers.

The audience is made to have an emotional attachment with the character david as Sassoon lists various facts about his life such as “He was 19. He came from Wales. Straight from school to officer training.” This gives the audience a context to the character and makes them be able to relate to him.

“He had all those thing that we should be born with: truth, integrity, gentleness, patience.” This suggests that he thinks everyone is born with only good qualities as all of these are positive things. It implies that all babies and young children are completely innocent and void of any negative aspects. This emphasises David’s innocence as he is “young”.

“He shouldn’t have died, you see. He’d had no life.” This makes his death seem unjust and not needed which also implies the war is unjust and unneeded as he died for the war.

He shows the harsh realities of war when he describes David’s death “ He was shot in the throat and choked on his own blood” this creates a gruesome image and also shows how quickly it could happen as there is very little build up to his death just a sentence saying they went on a wiring party”.

“The words of the service were drowned out by mortar and machine gun fire.” This shows the common rushed funeral that was given to the dead soldiers, it seems unfair and makes his death seem unimportant to anyone else.

“I tried to die. I made up my mind to die.” This shows how devastated he was that he wanted to end his own life. It also seems unfair that him, who wanted to die, managed to survive while others that wanted to live died.

“I’m sure I was mad… and it doesn’t just go away.” This suggests he was suffering from depression after David’s death. This relates to many soldiers who got mental illness’ because of the horrors they saw in the war, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In this time ‘shell shock’ was not recognised at an illness’ so many men went untreated.

As the team's head brass- Edward Thomas

As The Team’s Head Brass - Edward Thomas

As the team’s head-brass flashed out on the turn
The lovers disappeared `.
I sat among the boughs of the fallen elm
That strewed the angle of the fallow, and
Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square
Of charlock. Every time the horses turned
Instead of treading me down, the ploughman leaned
Upon the handles to say or ask a word,
About the weather, next about the war.
Scraping the share he faced towards the wood,
And screwed along the furrow till the brass flashed
Once more.
The blizzard felled the elm whose crest
I sat in, by a woodpecker’s round hole,
The ploughman said. ‘When will they take it away? ‘
‘When the war’s over.’ So the talk began –
One minute and an interval of ten,
A minute more and the same interval.
‘Have you been out? ‘ ‘No.’ ‘And don’t want to, perhaps? ‘
‘If I could only come back again, I should.
I could spare an arm, I shouldn’t want to lose
A leg. If I should lose my head, why, so,
I should want nothing more…Have many gone
From here? ‘ ‘Yes.’ ‘Many lost? ‘ ‘Yes, a good few.
Only two teams work on the farm this year.
One of my mates is dead. The second day
In France they killed him. It was back in March,
The very night of the blizzard, too. Now if
He had stayed here we should have moved the tree.’
‘And I should not have sat here. Everything
Would have been different. For it would have been
Another world.’ ‘Ay, and a better, though
If we could see all all might seem good.’ Then
The lovers came out of the wood again:
The horses started and for the last time
I watched the clods crumble and topple over
After the ploughshare and the stumbling team.

Structure- narrative poem, using Iambic pentameter which could be mimicking the sound of the horses hooves.

Pastoral imagery is used throughout to create a serene country setting. The “fallen elm” suggests something sad as the tree has died and “fallen”, this also reminds the reader of a fallen soldier that has died in battle. “Strewed” also suggests that it has fallen awkwardly and uncomfortably across the land emphasising the feeling of something sad. This juxtaposes the calm pastoral setting which also juxtaposes the war.

“The lovers disappear” this could be showing the loss of love and life in the war as so many loved ones dies. It could also be representing hope of new love and life and that even the war is going on there is still love in the world.

“Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square / Of charlock.” Charlock is a yellow weed, this could represent the bad unwanted aspects of their lives such as the war.

“So the talk began – / One minute and an interval of ten, / A minute more and the same interval.” the rhythm of the encounter is slow, punctuated by work. The repetition emphasises this. The slow rhythm gives the poem a relaxed unrushed feel to it.

“The blizzard felled the elm whose crest” from this line he stats using Iambic pentameter, possibly to mimic the 10 minutes between each section of the conversation.

“‘If I could only come back again” this shows the understanding that the possibility of dying in the war is very high. This is emphasised by the farmer talking about his friend dying “Only two teams work on the farm this year. / One of my mates is dead. The second day / In France they killed him.” As it was a personal friend it shows most people knew someone that died, also the emphasis on how quickly he was killed shows how common It was for soldiers to get killed straight away due to their lack of experience.

“If we could see all all might seem good.’” This suggests people are ignorant towards the world, perhaps the government in particular who keep the war continuing. It suggests that if they “see all” and become less ‘blind’ to the world it would be a better place as the fighting would stop.

The lovers reappear at the end of the poem, this again brings hope that there is still love in the world but it also seems sad as they have left the protection and life of the woods, and the man will probably go off to war.  

“I watched the clods crumble and topple over” this could represent the soldiers in war toppling over and dying. 

The Last Meeting - Sassoon

Context- On March 18th 1916, Second Lieutenant David Cuthbert Thomas was shot in the neck while repairing the barbed wire in front of the front-line trenches. Initially, his wounds were not thought to be life-threatening, but he died a few hours later. He served with Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, both of whom admired him greatly.

Nature imagery- Sassoon uses many references to nature such as “chestnuts stood”, “Dark in their noble canopies of leaves”, “But he will loom above me like a tree,”, “the peace / of sanctuary, austerely built of trees,” and “ i knew him crushed to earth in scentless flowers / and lifted in the rapture of dark pines.” this nature imagery is used throughout. I think this could be used to highlight the contrast between the living nature and the death of David Thomas and so many other soldiers.

Simile- “he will loom above me like a tree,” This could be showing that he see’s Davis Thomas as bigger and superior to him and that e looks up to him. Or that because he has dies and now become part of the earth Sassoon feels like he is part of nature.

Enjambment- enjambment is used throughout the poem this could be to show Sassoon’s disorganised irrational state of mind after the death of his friend. Alternatively this could be used to show the unorganised never ending state of the war.

Short sentence- “He was old.” This could be reflecting the short life the old man has left or alternatively it could be putting emphasis on the fact that he is old because Sassoon is upset that his friend will never get the chance to grow old now much like many other soldiers.

Alliteration- “hold his human ghost” i think this is used to emphasise how impossible this statement is, as a ghost is not a physical object and is not hold-able, it is also not alive so is not human. This could show that Sassoon does not care that David is dead he will do anything to be with him.

Deceleration of a Soldier

Seigfried Sassoon published a letter stating his views on the war. This letter is called Deceleration of a soldier.

 His views on the war are very obviously negative. He describes the war as “evil and unjust”. ‘Evil’ has religious connotations and although Sassoon was a well known atheist he uses this to demonstrate that it is evil not only in human terms but also in religious terms.
 He uses repetition of the word ‘suffering’ in a short space of the text. This could be to emphasise the amount of people suffering and also to show that the suffering is repetitive and never ending. 
 He uses alliteration “as an act” which sounds imperative and give a very formal feel to his letter. He also uses alliteration when he says “callous complacency” this is much more aggressive with the ‘c’ sound and shows his negative views about not just the war but the people at home’s ignorance towards it. 
Sassoon uses lots of Emotive language as the purpose of this letter is to persuade the people to his views. He says “I am a soldier” this suggests that he has the right to these views as he has served and knows the conditions they are in. It also makes the soldiers seem like one group of people rather than individuals and he includes himself in this making him seem like one of the masses. He then says “I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops,” this evokes sympathy from the reader as it shows he has not only witnessed it but been subjected to it also.
 He is obviously unhappy about the war as he says it is ’unjust and evil’ which shows his strong feeling against it. But he is not against war on a whole as he says “am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.” This shows he is protesting against this war in particular not war in general. Using the word “sacrificed” suggests that it is unneeded for the men to die as they are given up to the enemy and makes it seems as if they are certain to die.
 On a whole this letter shows Sassoon to have very negative views on the war although most of his points are base on opinion for example “believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.” This shows that it is what he believes and there is no solid proof and it is a conspiracy and for that reason it is unlikely people would have took his allegations seriously. However he has very strong negative opinions of the war as shown by this extract. 

To Victory - (Sassoon)

To Victory - (Sassoon)

In the first stanza Sassoon opens the poem with “Return to greet me” which I assumed he was talking about a person but in fact he misses the colours of other places; “colours that were my joy”. I think that these “colours” represent happy memories he has of his life away from the war so when he misses the colours this is a metaphor for his life outside the trenches. He uses the word “slain” to describe the killing of the soldiers, this makes the death seem like an impressive and extravagant murder that is unfair and therefore makes the reader feel sympathy. He uses nature imagery to show his preferred image; “shining as a garden” shining indicated that it is bright and sunny which creates positive visual imagery of the garden.

In the second stanza he says he wants to fill his “gaze with blue and silver” these colours have calming effects and imply cool open spaces such as the ocean. By saying he wants to “fill” his gaze it shows his desire for this image of anywhere else but the war to fill his mind completely. This could be because he wants to escape the war as it was horrific and consuming of the soldier’s lives. He again uses imagery of nature describing “roses, spires of green” this creates a positive and romantic image at the mention of roses. However he then describes it “Rising in young limbed copse and lovely wood”.  This extreme juxtaposition, first between the roses and green growing plants and the dead young body, and then the dead body and the “lovely” wood. This creates the impression that he barely notices the dead bodies at war as he makes no indication to feeling shocked or sad but only mentions it because of plants growing around it. This would have been common as soldiers would emotionally detach themselves from death so they could cope with the vast amount of deaths they would witness.

In the tired stanza he describes the guns as angry. Using personification could indicate that he not only feels the guns are angry but also the people firing them. He uses imagery to illustrate the guns going off; “boom and flash” he describes the appearance of the guns going off rather than the damage they cause, this could be because he feels that they were more for show and to make the enemy be fearful at the sound of them rather than them making much of an impact.

The final stanza starts with repetition of “return”, using repetition could indicate the repetition of him pleading for the war to disappear. He uses personification of the wind by saying “when the blithe wind laughs on the hills with uplifted voice.”  This is a very positive ending to the poem and “blithe” meaning happy or carefree and “laughs” both have very positive connotations and imply happiness.

The trenches in world war one were mud filled and the soldiers mostly only saw the insides of the trenches. I think this poem show how the soldiers would become bored of the same scenery easily and not only long for their loved ones left behind at home but for the scenery of their home towns and the memories that accompany them. 

Birdsong: The trip round the water gardens

The water gardens are first described as  "intensively cultivated for vegetables... The area was regarded by the people who had nothing to do with its work as a site of natural beauty and an object of civic pride." This makes the water gardens seem very beautiful and full of life as there are obviously vegetables growing there as it was "intensively cultivated for vegetables" and it is admired by other people so there must be many people that visit to see the water gardens. This is a very positive description of the water gardens which then contrasts drastically with Stephens thoughts on the boat ride back.
"He was repelled by the water gardens; their hectic abundance seemed to him close to the vegetable fertility of death. The brown waters were murky and shot through with the scurrying of rats from the banks where the earth had been dug out of trenches and held back by elaborate wooden boarding. Heavy flies hung over the water, beneath the trees, dipping into the rotting tops of cabbages, asparagus and artichokes, that had been left unpicked in their reckless prodigality. What was held to be a place of natural beauty was a stagnation of living tissue which could not be saved from decay." is just the start of his grim description of the "decaying" water gardens. His change of mood could be caused by the "unnatural heat of the day" or because he felt "hot and thick-headed from the wine" he had been drinking. This binary opposite of life and death is relevant to the book as it is set in world war one so death is a strong theme running through out. The reference to "trenches" is ironic because it is countryside like this that would be turned in to trenches. He even describes it as if it is already a trench as the "earth had been dug out" there is the"scurrying of rats" and "Wooden boarding", this could be describing a trench as well as the water gardens. This is heavily foreboding the approach of war and suggest this water garden will be turned in to a battle field. He also describes how each character would easily waste away in the decay; "Beards tongue would decompose... Little Gregoire and Lisette would be the mud of the banks...and madame Azaire.. would not out last or rise above some forlorn, unspiritual end in the clinging earth." this could foreshadow the death of these characters. Or it could be Faulks trying to convey the message that everyone can die and will be equal in death as they will all decay in to the ground. The divide between class is a big theme through out the book so I think Faulks wanted to convey that everyone is equal in death and that this (or war) can unite people.
All this talk about death and decay is then again contrasted with Stephens thoughts about Madame Azaire. at the start of the boat ride he describes how he " found room for his feet on the floor of the boat while trying not to touch hers." This avoiding of touch between the two of them just enhances the intensity when they do touch or make eye contact. on the way back Madame Azaire's "foot lay unresisting against Stephens leg... Stephen left his leg where it was, Madame Azaire was too hot or too indifferent to shift her position." There is a lot of description about the physical contact between the two of them which may, if it were between two different people, go unnoticed. But as it is mentioned multiple times it shows the importance of this to Stephen. Faulks then writes "The simple frission this touch had earlier given to his charged senses now seemed complicated; the sensation of desire seemed indistinguishable from and impulse towards death." This could either mean he is a sadistic psychopath that will get the same feeling from love as from death and "desires" death. Or on the other hand it could be the wine he had drank mixed with the "unnatural" heat that causes this confusion, I think this is Stephen getting the two binary opposites life/love and death mixed up in his head as he is confused for his feeling towards Madame Azaire and is conflicted whether to act on them or not as she is a married woman.