His wet white face and miserable eyes
Brought nurses to him more than groans and sighs:
But hoarse and low and rapid rose and fell
His troubled voice: he did the business well.
The ward grew dark; but he was still complaining
And calling out for ‘Dickie’. ‘Curse the Wood!
‘It’s time to go. O Christ, and what’s the good?
‘We’ll never take it, and it’s always raining.’
I wondered where he’d been; then heard him shout,
‘They snipe like hell! O Dickie, don’t go out...
I fell asleep ... Next morning he was dead;
And some Slight Wound lay smiling on the bed.
Sassoon was a brave and well- respected officer. He won the military cross for courage and fought at several battles, yet he also detested the slaughter and the misconduct of the war by generals and politicians. Sassoon's poems are aimed to tell the truth about the war that he had fought in. He used a plain, direct style, often bringing in soldiers slang. Also a pattern of sharp lines often leads to a ' knock - out blow' in the last verse. Died of the Wounds was based on a dying soldier who Sassoon had seen in a hospital near the Somme in July 1916.
This line indicates that the nurses came to him more because of his pain and the look of his face. He describes the physical condition of the dying soldier. By saying " he did the business well", highlights that he was a good soldier who was in the thick of the war. Some people said at the time of ww1 that people who came back wounded are looked up to as heroes of the war. Sassoon concentrates on sounds to show that the soldier is dying in a troubled way, that he was not happy and that it wasn't a peaceful way to die.
To warn one of the soldiers Sassoon says, " O Dicke, don't go out". The phrase " Slightly Wounded" describes the dying soldier as a casualty of the war. At the very end of the poem he uses the word " smiling " to emphasises that the wounded solider is at peace at last. In comparison, Wilfred Owen also fought in the www1 like Sassoon knows the dangers, terror and suffering that war causes. I feel that the poem benefits from Sassoon's experiences in the war, as he knows the truth about war. In this poem Sassoon aimed to upset people who glorified war. Sassoon in the poem has the ability to use very few words but they say a lot in them.
This poem emphasises the physical horror of WW1 where thousands of soldiers died of wounds and blood pour.
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Journey's End: Character Analysis:
Sherriff shows the diversity of people within the play.
Mason - A slightly lower class chef. Cooks for the commanders and isn't really educated. He is sometimes used as a dramatic devise, bringing the audience down to a completely different level when he worries about the fact that he was brought apricots rather than pineapple chunks. He is almost a comedy role, taking on a totally different side of the war, and almost making it seem funny and stupid that you worry about that sort of thing; the fact that they are in the middle of the First World War and he's worried about pineapples.
Stanhope - Is in charge, he's bossy and known as a major drinker. However Osbourne is a big fan of him, defending him, saying he's the best company commander in the army and works harder than anyone else. He's shocked when he first sees Raleigh questioning him quite harshly, 'how did you get here?', and as a result of this becomes slightly dismissive, goes quiet and perhaps slightly uncomfortable because he recognises this boy, and for some reason which we learn later on in the play, he doesn't want Raleigh to see what he's really like. Possibly because of his sister.
'She doesn't know that if I went up those steps into the front line - without being doped in whisky - I'd go mad with fright.'
'I knew I'd go mad if I couldn't break the strain, I couldn't bare being fully conscious all the time.'
These two quotes that Stanhope tells Osbourne are extremely important and a turn in the play, showing what the war was like from a man who was regarded as one of the bravest men out on the front. How must the others have coped?! We see Stanhope as a strong man, brave and completely in control the whole time, but from those two quotes we learn that he's still as terrified as everyone else. You could almost say he is a good actor, covering up his emotions, along with a lot of whisky washed down with it. It is funny what a war can do to a man, as Stanhope tells Osbourne, he promised himself that he'd go into the war and be strong and brave and come back fit and healthy for his girl. Yet once he got there he couldn't go through the day not being slightly drunk during some of it.
Osbourne - a much older man than anyone else in the company, given the nickname 'uncle' by everyone else he's seen as a fatherly figure and perhaps a role model. Second in command to Stanhope, he could be more intelligent since he was a teacher but has little to non-experience compared to Stanhope and believes that wholeheartedly. He comes across as a nice man, who sees the best in people, no matter the circumstances or situation and in this case, war. He looks after Stanhope when he gets drunk and rowdy, worrying about Raleigh and the contents of the letters he might send home.
Sherriff shows the diversity of people within the play.
Mason - A slightly lower class chef. Cooks for the commanders and isn't really educated. He is sometimes used as a dramatic devise, bringing the audience down to a completely different level when he worries about the fact that he was brought apricots rather than pineapple chunks. He is almost a comedy role, taking on a totally different side of the war, and almost making it seem funny and stupid that you worry about that sort of thing; the fact that they are in the middle of the First World War and he's worried about pineapples.
Stanhope - Is in charge, he's bossy and known as a major drinker. However Osbourne is a big fan of him, defending him, saying he's the best company commander in the army and works harder than anyone else. He's shocked when he first sees Raleigh questioning him quite harshly, 'how did you get here?', and as a result of this becomes slightly dismissive, goes quiet and perhaps slightly uncomfortable because he recognises this boy, and for some reason which we learn later on in the play, he doesn't want Raleigh to see what he's really like. Possibly because of his sister.
'She doesn't know that if I went up those steps into the front line - without being doped in whisky - I'd go mad with fright.'
'I knew I'd go mad if I couldn't break the strain, I couldn't bare being fully conscious all the time.'
These two quotes that Stanhope tells Osbourne are extremely important and a turn in the play, showing what the war was like from a man who was regarded as one of the bravest men out on the front. How must the others have coped?! We see Stanhope as a strong man, brave and completely in control the whole time, but from those two quotes we learn that he's still as terrified as everyone else. You could almost say he is a good actor, covering up his emotions, along with a lot of whisky washed down with it. It is funny what a war can do to a man, as Stanhope tells Osbourne, he promised himself that he'd go into the war and be strong and brave and come back fit and healthy for his girl. Yet once he got there he couldn't go through the day not being slightly drunk during some of it.
Osbourne - a much older man than anyone else in the company, given the nickname 'uncle' by everyone else he's seen as a fatherly figure and perhaps a role model. Second in command to Stanhope, he could be more intelligent since he was a teacher but has little to non-experience compared to Stanhope and believes that wholeheartedly. He comes across as a nice man, who sees the best in people, no matter the circumstances or situation and in this case, war. He looks after Stanhope when he gets drunk and rowdy, worrying about Raleigh and the contents of the letters he might send home.
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