War has a very personal and intimidating connotation. The United States does a lot of things to their current and previous soldiers, and many authors that write about it use words to soften the blow of how harsh and traumatic the war is to these men and women. Once I received the assignment to read "Base Details" by Siegfried Sassoon, I was very confused on what the message was. I thought "base" as some sort of bottom, as if the speaker was at the bottom of something. Having "fierce" and "bald" standing next to each other also confused me, until I read more into it, and eventually found some sort of answer.
"If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath," was what drew me into the poem, yet left me asking many questions (1). The speaker is not actually a part of the war, because he starts the poem with “If”. Saying if he was in the war, and if he was doing all of those things. He is an outsider looking in, and seeing what the people in the war go through. Based on the title, "Base Details," I was still confused and was wondering what all of these words were leading me to. Once I read "Majors at the Base" is where it finally clicked (2). Though the diction is very strong within this poem, I decided to explore Sassoon's use of euphemism, because he was being direct with the poem, but not as direct as he could have been.
Sassoon explored war with a very remorseful tone, and touched upon the topic of the soldiers dying, and even those dying after the war. He uses euphemism evidently at the start of the second quatrain, with “Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,” which could possibly mean a man or woman after the war drinking himself to death after being exposed to a very traumatic event. Instead of saying that someone was annihilating their liver from the traumatic events of the war, he used very simple words to still prove how powerful the war is. He also says “we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap,” which is another way to say that people in the war that have passed away.
Though this poem talks a lot about death, the overall melancholic tone is provided through the use of euphemisms. The speaker puts the audience into the scene, where if they were in the military and was standing among Majors and running up to the line of death, but did it in a way that was not extremely vulgar nor uncomfortable. Sassoon used his diction to talk about the aftermath of war, and how if one does not die in the war, they will probably make it home safe, yet die at home based off of how they treat themselves by “Guzzling and gulping,” or drinking. Though it was the diction that got his point across, the poetic device he used within that is euphemism, because he made the topic of post-war veterans dying into a sad topic without being very literal, yet symbolic.
Your response was great and I enjoyed reading it very much! The introduction was very captivating and it immediately drew me in. The first few sentences provided a lot of context that set the stage for the poem and it really tied your explication for the poem together. You identified the poetic device as the use of euphemisms and you immediately backed it up with a quotation, which was the first line of the poem. I really liked how you supported your claims with evidence directly from the text; you made sure to back up all of your points and the quotations were all pertinent to your own, original ideas. You were able to carry this throughout the entire response and bring it all together in the conclusion, which made for an effective reflection. I liked how you brought his diction into the conclusion as well. You made sure to point out how his diction was effective in conveying meaning, yet euphemism was the main poetic device. Overall, this was a great response and it was very well written!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog to be very interesting. I got a more personal feeling rather than it just sounding like an assignment. You told the readers how you were feeling, what you were confused about, and what you came to realize. I like how you inserted in your own opinion within the blog post and carried that throughout. I found what you were saying to be very relatable because I felt the same way when I was reading the poem. That mean others who read this may be able to connect with you as well. In regards to the assignment itself you did a great job. You incorporated textual evidence as well as explanations. When I was reading I found it very easy to follow what you were saying. Not only did you choose one poetic device but you also identified other poetic devices that showed the author’s attitude towards war. You included device such as diction and tone. Another reason why I like your blog post was because you picked out something that I didn’t necessarily realize. Euphemism was not a poetic device that I took into account when reading the poem. But at least I know now thanks to you.
ReplyDeletei thought your blog post was very interesting. you always find a way to make something seem way more sophisticated than it is , and for that i praise you. Like kerry said, the introduction was very captivating and caught my attention immediately. You also used textual evidence to back up your analysis which strengthened it and it made it convey Sassoon's purpose for writing it more evident. Another reason I found this blog post interesting was the poetic device that you used. I would have never looked into Euphemism, but you picked it and explicated it perfectly. In my opinion I believe this blog post was great really captivated the poetic device to show Sassoon’s purpose for writing it.
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