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.