A Working Party

480 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sassoon poem analysis

This poem is about a 'normal', 'average' man who came to the trenches only 3 hours before, and then is killed as he is doing his job of piling sandbags along the parapet.Throughout this poem, Sassoon appeals to the emotions of the reader by trying to create an emotional attachment between the reader and the young man. He explains that "He was a young man, with a meagre wifeAnd two small children in a Midland town;He showed their photographs to all his mates,And they considered him a decent chapWho did his work and hadn't much to say,And always laughed at other people's jokesBecause he hadn't any of his own."Sassoon deliberately describes the man clearly and significant detail, which makes the reader realise that this man was just a normal man, probably not unlike the reader, and makes the reader see the pure tragedy when the man dies. "He was just a simple man, who never did anything to hurt anyone" is the response Sassoon wants the reader to have, and feel the injustice of the man's death.Sassoon specifically starts the poem off slowly, describing the men slowly making their way down the trenches, slipping into the mud and squeezing past other soldiers returning from the front line. Then, he ironically rushes the man's death in the last two lines, after the man is thinking how slow time passes.

The man's sudden death shocks the reader and shows them how suddenly life can be taken away."And as he dropped his head the instant splitHis startled life with lead, and all went out."Throughout the poem, Sassoon uses excellent descriptions to involve the reader in the 'action' of the poem, and with the man. He clearly describes the men making their way down the trench towards the front line - "Sliding and poising, groping with his boots", "...splashing wretchedly where the sludge was ankle deep". Language like this almost takes the reader there, and again makes the reader identify with the character. Sassoon also uses the same strong descriptions of the area to make the reader feel like they are in the trenches along with the man - "Sandbags bleached with rain", "... pawed sodden sandbags of chalk", "White faces peered, puffing a point of red", "...

the gloom swallowed...". He uses references to colour, texture and sound to give the reader an understanding of what it felt like to be there.

Show More
Related

  • Nancy Cato's Poem 'The Dead Swagman'

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone of the poem is sad and peaceful. There are multiple examples of these emotions throughout the poem, evidence of the poem being sad is “buried him half in ashes, where he lay”. These words clearly show us that there is a strong sense of sadness within these words. Proof of this poem being peaceful is “in the sunny afternoon, and takes his ease”, which clearly states that the swagman was relaxed and was not in a stressed environment.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this poem written by Owen, the events of a typical day in the war is detailed and described to show that war is not as glorious and honorable as those back home picture it. The title, meaning 'how sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country', is actually very sarcastic and depicts the feelings of many of those that were fighting. The first stanza sets the scene and show what the soldiers would be feeling at the time. The men's condition at the time was so wretched th...

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    The late first lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it." Mrs. Roosevelt means that although one person may feel alone through the hardships one faces, one has millions beside oneself who can relate to and understand what one may feel. Zora Neale Hurston shows that even though Janie's family and spouses continue to be abusive and harsh toward Janie, their hate and control left her stronger than before, preparing her for the next challenges thrown at her. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the deaths' of close relatives and family positively affect Janie because she tends to become more educated and wiser with each death she overcomes in the obstacles she calls her life.

    Read More

  • Explication Of Sharon Olds Poem, "Late Poem To My Father"

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    imagery of darkness. It is interesting to note how the speaker distinguishes these details, yet in

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - Imagery, Metaphors, and Diction in Dulce et Decorum Est

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    The images drawn in this poem are so graphic that it could make readers feel sick. For example, in these lines: "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs/ Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,"(21-23) shows us that so many men were brutally killed during this war. Also, when the gas bomb was dropped, "[s]omeone still yelling out and stumbling/ [a]nd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.../ [h]e plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."(11-12,16) These compelling lines indicate that men drowned helplessly in the toxic gasses. These graphic images are very disturbing but play a very effective role in the development of the poem.

    Read More

  • Dulce Et Decorum Est

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    The horrible conditions and quality of life in the trenches of World War One are emphasized with Owen’s use of figurative language, such as similes, metaphors and personification. An excellent example of a simile would be what he wrote in the first line of the poem, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge” (stanza 1, line 1 and 2). This description portrays the soldiers to be ‘crippled or ‘broken’, and shows them to be left both psychologically and physically scarred. It really helps us to visualize a group of young men who are in fact exhausted and so “drunk with fatigue”(stanza 1, line 7) that they are unable to even stand upright, and have lost most control over their physical actions. By bringing in these similes, Owen adds mo...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Here Bullet By Brian Turner

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    One must look at this poem and imagine what is like to live thru this experience of becoming so tired of expecting to die everyday on the battlefield, that one starts to welcome it in order to escape the anticipation. The effects of living day in and day out in such a manner creates a person who either has lost the fear of death or has become so frighten of how they once lived the compensate for it later by living a guarded life. The one who loses the fear for death ends up with this way of living in which they only feel alive when faced with death. The person in this poem is one who has lost their fear of death, and now thrives off coming close to it he expresses it when he states “Here is the adrenaline rush you crave, that inexorable flight, that insane puncture” (LL.6-7). What happens to this persona when he leaves the battlefield? He pushes the limit trying to come close to death to feel alive; until they push

    Read More

  • Compare Dulce Et Decorum Est And Suicide In The Trenches

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both poems used different techniques to stimulate the readers’ evaluation and realisation of the adverse outcomes of war, especially its effects on the soldiers. Sassoon’s poem title gave the reader an immediate conclusion about the contents of the poem of the hardship that the soldier faced, which brought upon his suicide. Whereas Owen’s gave the opposite impression at first, as the Latin saying translates into “it is fitting and honourable to die for your country.”

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis of Group Work

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    After completing the group task of preparing a presentation on, transferring individual facilitation skills into a group work setting I will critically reflect upon my own participation. I will evaluate my self-awareness while working in the group, as well as those around me. The way that I personally dealt with any issues that arose within the group and how that affected the group dynamics. I will also briefly discuss the roles in which each member of the group took and how role allocation affected, the group dynamics and the working relationships. Finally I will evaluate my work having discussed it with my fellow group members.

    Read More

  • Law Enforcement and Ethics

    2227 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...d procedures that help regulate an officer’s conduct. While these are a good base point for how an officer should act, a lot of times these regulations can be very detailed or too general. This is where ethical training comes in to

    Read More

  • Dulce Et Decorum Est, And Wilfred Owen's Impact Of War On Poetry

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sassoon shows many examples of how the soldier in this poem gets pulled back into war-like terrors by meaningless things. The soldier is simply sitting in his home yet gets flashbacks of war and it haunts him. In this poem Sassoon is using a soldier as the example of repression as someone who has experienced war and the impacts it has on life after. “The poetic evolution related directly to Sassoon 's war experiences was initially gradual. His poetry became more serious and evocative in the early days of the war, but continued to inhabit the fatal logic of soldierly glory in poetic uniform” Avi Matalon claims (30). Poetry was influenced greatly by World War I and left poets creating new pieces that they never would have imagined

    Read More

  • Behavioral Techniques in the Classroom

    2228 Words  | 5 Pages

    Student discipline is affected by classroom management. The way in which a teacher manages his/her classroom delineates the type of instruction that will take place in the classroom. A classroom in which the teacher takes total responsibility for guiding students’ actions comprises a different learning environment than one in which students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions (Evertson, 2003). Many schools are reluctant to hold students accountable for their own actions. The education establishment warns teachers that they will be placing themselves in a questionable role if they emphasize rules, punish bad behavior, and reward good conduct (Bennett, et. al., 1999). Teachers need to create a learning environment in which students are encouraged to do their best and therefore, motivated to work to their highest potential. Teachers need to also set expectations and maintain the learning environment they have developed. Even in effectively managed classrooms, however, problems may occur.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Last Laugh Poem

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tone is bitter and intense in a realistic way. It is achieved by the vivid and gruesome images in the poem. Wilfred Owen 's use of imagery in this poem is by depicting emotional, nightmarish, and vivid words to capture the haunting encounters of WWI that soldiers went through. In the first stanza, Owen depicts his fellow soldiers struggling through the battlefield, but their terrible health conditions prevent them from their strong actions in the war. When Owen says, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags” (lines 1-2). This provides the readers with an unexpected view and appearance of soldiers, as they usually picture as strong, noble, and brawny-looking men. Soldiers sacrifice themselves to fight for their country and are exhausted from their unhealthy lifestyle. In lines 7-8, “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind,” they have lost the facade of humanity and their bodies are all wearied and weak on their march. This reveals a glimpse at the soldiers’ actions, as well as inferring to a psychological effect of the war. Then in line 5, “Men marched asleep,” the author is making abnormality to be one of the major purposes of the war, that it

    Read More

  • Effective Classroom Management

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... lunch room, distributing materials, carrying messages to office etc. These tasks can be assigned to different students every week. Effective teachers make sure that every student has a job so that they feel responsible. These activities can also be used to reward improved behavior (Evertson, Emmer, and Worsham, 2006). Jones describes routines as operational rules. Jones says, “Operational rules must be specified to provide for smooth operations, which include materials to use, when to sharpen pencils, get a drink, go to the bathroom, how to get help and how the class is dismissed” (Allen, 1998). An effective way of establishing routines would be considering each and every minute detail of classroom activities. Children should know the importance of rules and routines in the classroom and it is a teacher’s responsibility to teach them (Canter &Canter, 1992).

    Read More

  • What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Classroom Management In The Classroom

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    Classroom management is a necessary component to every classroom. It includes creating a set of rules and clear expectations that all students follow. This helps unify the classroom for both the teacher and students allowing for a smooth, effective, and educational environment. When the students are aware of what is expected, they are motivated in order to attain the goals dispensed by the teacher. Some students are naturally motivated and want nothing more than to surpass goals for the sake of triumph and pleasing the teacher. Other students need extrinsic motivation in order for them to become engaged in

    Read More

More about A Working Party

Open Document