Wwi Poetry Analysis

Joey Padon
Juana Collegio
2-28-13

Hell Where Youth and Laughter Go

During WWI, many citizens were oblivious of the war and its imminent consequences. War poems and literature were the only effective methods to remove the distance and reveal the some of the truth. Siegfried Sassoon wrote “suicide in the trenches” as an anti war poem in the 20th century. Sassoon creates a dark atmosphere for the loss of innocence taken place during WWI in “Suicide in the Trenches” using a three-part structure to intensify the stages of trench lifestyle along with high impact images that bring moments to life similar to the fictional struggles experienced by Paul Baumer. Suicide in the Trenches is broken down into three definite segments to portray the soldier’s early pure soul and misconception of war, the loss of innocence and suicide of the soldier followed by the delusion of war through the public’s eyes to help deepen our understanding of a soldier’s hardship. The first stanza shows the innocence of a young boy with little experience in the world. The soldier was described as “a simple soldier boy” (1), displaying him to be small and filled with hope for the future expecting the best of war. The soldier had no aspirations due to the fact that he was extremely young is represented on line two “ginned at life in empty joy” (2). Many young soldiers joined the army hoping to help them start a clear future and were genuinely content with serving their country. The gap separating the first two stanzas is to show the rapid loss of innocence in a soldier as he progresses as a soldier. The second stanza explains the emotional hardening experienced in war. It starts out with “In winter trenches, cowed and glum,” (5), showing the dark side of the battlefield in comparison with the first stanza. Happiness is now a struggle to maintain even thought he entered the war with great optimism. Then, the soldier develops “crumps and lice”(6), which were common unpleasant trench diseases to add on to his depression. Swiftly the soldier takes a turn for the worse, “He put a bullet through his brain.” (7). The soldier couldn’t handle the pressures of war, so he consequently decided to find his own way out. Transitioning to the last stanza shows an abrupt switch to the societal view of the soldiers. “Smug-faced crowds with kindling eye,” (9), shows how the citizens do not understand nor comprehend the damage of war soldiers experience. Most soldiers push their memories deeper and deeper in an attempt to forget, but some will never forget these memories causing them to search for a way to forget. The poem ends with “you’ll never know the hell where youth and laughter go.” (12). In other words, Society will never know the destruction of young males innocence caused by war. While using high impact images that bring moments to life this poem demonstrates the depressing emotional detachment of a WWI soldier. Throughout the poem Sassoon used clear words that add vivid images to the poem. In the first stanza, “ Who grinned at life in empty joy, Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,” (3), gives a clear image of a young recruit anxious for his future and new experiences. Eager for his future ambitions, he is happy to be listed in the army and serving his country. Sleeping soundly because he has no real problems and has never experienced agonizing trauma. The lonesome dark shows the loneliness of the frontier and the survival by any means mentality of hardened soldiers. In the second stanza, Sassoon describes the life during the winter, “in the winter trenches, cowed and glum with crumps and lice and lack of rum.” (5-6) Sassoon displays the rapid decrease of happiness in this particular soldier as he begins to experience war. While watching an excessive amount of his comrades die a day, he is forced to push away feelings towards any comrade away. Majority of soldiers develop an addiction to nicotine or alcohol during the war to help them numb the pain of their gruesome memories. As war advances, naturally these items run scarce and some men take it harshly. The soldier decides to take his own life “he put a bullet through his brain.” (7). Which is a very descriptive way to say suicide almost forcing the appalling image of the dead soldier into your mind. In the final stanza, the viewpoint changes as mentioned in the first paragraph. “You smug-faces crowds with your kindling eye who cheer when soldier lads march by,” (9). This is a very detailed account of the public cheering the soldiers as they return home unaware of the actions taken place at the front. The kindling eye represents the blindness of the citizens to the actuality. Overall, the use of clear words creates vivid imagery to describe the emotionally distant soldiers on the WWI battlefront. As Remarque shows the bloodcurdling, eerie events that take place in WWI, Sassoon shows the demolished life of a hopeless soldier. Paul Baumer was convinced by his teacher to enlist to fight in WWI to be a hero while supporting your country. Paul experiences horrendous losses within his first few weeks at the front. Around 50 percent of his comrades died during the first artillery strike. Just as the young soldier joined the war in hopes to help plan a future. The war must have equally affected the soldier in suicide in the trenches because come winter he was already a stone cold veteran that couldn’t be fazed by the most horrific deaths. This is emotional hardening and perpetual guilt is what contributed to the death of the sad soldier. Paul experiences the unknowingness of his parents while he returns home on leave. He understands that the people cannot see what goes on in the war or even comprehend the death toll. Sassoon describes the citizens and there inability to follow the brutality of the war. Paul died with a content look on his face, almost as if he wanted to die said his comrades. Similarly, The brave soldier in suicide in the trenches took his own life to escape the unfortunate life in the trenches. Sassoon shows the emotional numbing taken place in the dark war through a three-part structure, high impact images that intensify the stages of trench life along with struggles similar to those of Paul Baumer’s in “All is Quiet on the Western Front.” Young soldiers lives were cut off during WWI, just before they could live them. They were defined by the war because life before was just existence. These lonely soldiers were susceptible to this numbness because no experience in the past could prepare them for combat. War kills all emotions of soldiers leaving them desperate to feel anything, often resulting in inevitable death.