Repression of War Experience by Siegfried Sassoon Essay

The poem Repression of War Experience, by Siegfried Sassoon is a testament to the mental and e gestureal hardships faced by veterans of the jump world War, and indeed- all wars. In this poem, Sassoon uses the narrative voice of a traumatized soldier who attempts to forget the horrors of the battlefield by taking comfort in everyday activities such as reading (Books what a jolly company they are) and distracting himself by focusing on familiar aspects of nature (the moth, a rain storm, and the garden away his home).Unfortunately, none of these things bring him comfort and despite his distractions the narrator is still a highly disturbed and bitter man, alone and disconnected from the world, driven stark, staring afflictive by his experiences. Sassoons poem is both a startling view on the post-war reality faced by traumatized veterans, and a condemnation of the public for not providing more help and counseling for those returning from the Great War.Mental Cases, by Wilfred Owen Me ntal Cases by Wilfred Owen presents a dark and tormented vision of the effect the traumas of World War I had on the soldiers that fought its battles. Owen uses a constant barrage of harsh adjectives to describe the inhabitants of a military hospital, men whose minds the Dead have ravished. It is an accusation against the rest period of the world for allowing the war to happen, as Owen describes the broken patients snatching after us who smote them and pawing us who dealt them war and madness. According to Owens narrative voice, war is a senseless villainy of carnage incomparable and everyone that doesnt take direct action to stop it actively plays a part in its propagation.Dead Mans Dump, by Isaac RosenbergIsaac Rosenbergs Dead Mans Dump is an account of the horrors of combat in No Mans Land. His poem is rife with constant motion and chaos, coupled with descriptions of the rank death and decay of the battlefield- where rudimentary tanks can be seen crushing the bodies of unused s oldiers, and bodies are left to rot in the sun. Rosenberg seeks to give the dead soldiers a personal voice, describing the tragedy of young soldiers that have barely tasted life meeting vicious ends that drained the wild honey of their youth, while another clotted soul stretched weak hands to reach the living. The poet wishes to use his verse to bring the horrors of the battlefield itself to those sitting comfortably at home, disconnected from the conflict and yet on the whole responsible for its tragedies.Works CitedWilfred Owen Collected Letters, ed. Harold Owen and John Bell (OUP, 1967)The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussel (OUP, 1977)Poems of the First World War Never Such whiteness, ed. Martin Stephen (Everyman, 1995)Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918, ed. R Hart- Davis (Faber and Faber, 1983)The War Poets, Robert Giddings (Bloomsbury, 1990)God Made Blind The Life and Work of Isaac Rosenberg, ed. Adrian Barlow (Cambridge University Press, 1995)Poetry and the Pity of Wa r, Randle Manwaring Contemporary Review, Vol. 273, November 1998