Aftermath by Wilfred Owen
Analysis of “Aftermath” by Sassoon
“Aftermath” was written after the war in 1920. While other war poems composed by Sassoon, such as “Base Details” and “Wirers”, which were written from the point of view of a soldier during war, Sassoon sets the readers of “Aftermath” as post-war civilians, and uses many dark images of the battlefield to emphasize the importance of no forgetting what has happened in the past. From the very beginning of the poem, Sassoon demands for the readers’ attention with the rhetorical question: “Have you forgotten yet?” which is italicized with the first word written in capital letters, which puts even more emphasis on the question. The ellipsis that follows leads to a pause or a caesura that forces the readers’ to stop and contemplate about what the speaker had just said. The first stanza is mainly focused on the minds of the soldiers at present (post-war). Sassoon uses a simile to compare post-war life to the traffic on city roads. “Traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways” (line 3), which shows that the days have passed busily and repetitively with no big excitement, similar to the cars passing on the busy streets. However, the war has obviously left its imprint on the soldiers’ mentality, as there is a “haunted gap” (line 4) in the soldiers’ mind, a void that he will have to fill with fluffy light thoughts in order to avoid the painful memories of the past. The capitalization of “Time” (line 6) emphasizes the time wasted on war which accomplished nothing but destroyed the innocence of youth and countless lives. In reality, the soldiers who have survived the war have to now spend more time to fill their minds with things irrelevant in order to recover the traumatizing experience in war. This contrasts with the fact that the soldiers now have time and “joy to spare” (line 6) whereas the dead soldiers did not. Sassoon describes the war as a “bloody game” (line 7), a juxtaposition that shows how the soldiers were being
“Aftermath” was written after the war in 1920. While other war poems composed by Sassoon, such as “Base Details” and “Wirers”, which were written from the point of view of a soldier during war, Sassoon sets the readers of “Aftermath” as post-war civilians, and uses many dark images of the battlefield to emphasize the importance of no forgetting what has happened in the past. From the very beginning of the poem, Sassoon demands for the readers’ attention with the rhetorical question: “Have you forgotten yet?” which is italicized with the first word written in capital letters, which puts even more emphasis on the question. The ellipsis that follows leads to a pause or a caesura that forces the readers’ to stop and contemplate about what the speaker had just said. The first stanza is mainly focused on the minds of the soldiers at present (post-war). Sassoon uses a simile to compare post-war life to the traffic on city roads. “Traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways” (line 3), which shows that the days have passed busily and repetitively with no big excitement, similar to the cars passing on the busy streets. However, the war has obviously left its imprint on the soldiers’ mentality, as there is a “haunted gap” (line 4) in the soldiers’ mind, a void that he will have to fill with fluffy light thoughts in order to avoid the painful memories of the past. The capitalization of “Time” (line 6) emphasizes the time wasted on war which accomplished nothing but destroyed the innocence of youth and countless lives. In reality, the soldiers who have survived the war have to now spend more time to fill their minds with things irrelevant in order to recover the traumatizing experience in war. This contrasts with the fact that the soldiers now have time and “joy to spare” (line 6) whereas the dead soldiers did not. Sassoon describes the war as a “bloody game” (line 7), a juxtaposition that shows how the soldiers were being