The soldier Summary

The poem ‘The Soldier’ written By Rupert Brooke has a patriotic approach. The thoughts of a
soldier towards his motherland with his immense desire to sacrifice his life are reflected in the
poem. In the first stanza of the poem ‘The Soldier’ the poet admires England and expresses his
gratitude to it. The poet says, if he dies, he wants people to only think of one thing, that there is
some corner in a foreign country that is forever England. The poet means that if he dies in the
war he wants to be remembered in a particular way. He wants people to think of how the far-off
land on which he died would have a small piece of England forever. The poet further describes
his death that if he dies, his body will be buried in the earth. The earth will be enriched by his dead
body because his body is made from dirt born in England. He explains how England created him
and gave him consciousness. England gave him its blooming plants to fall in love with and gave
him his sense of freedom. His body belonged to England and he always breathed English air.
England’s rivers cleansed him and he was blessed by England’s Sun. The poet implied that
England was mother to him. His love for England and his willingness to sacrifice was equivalent
to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son, he could actually give his life to her.
Basically, England played the role of the dust which was the soldier’s mother.

In the second stanza of the poem the poet wanted his readers to consider the way in which his
soul, through death, would be made pure. His consciousness would be returned to the immortal
consciousness like a beating pulse, returned the beautiful thoughts that England gave him. The
poet perhaps wanted to say that when the soldier went to heaven, he would become part of that
larger, unending being and perhaps re-experience, in the form of a pulse, all the thoughts given
by England. The poet meant that he would re-experience everything he once knew of England
which was his home, after he died. The poet would return to the sights and sounds of his home
country and to the beautiful dreams that were as happy as England’s daytime. The poet wanted
the laughter to be shared with English friends and he would return to England’s gentleness which
lived in the English minds that were at peace under the English sky. The poet painted a very
joyous, peaceful picture of life after death that would be much like his happiest times spent in
England.

Stanza 1:

In the first stanza of the poem ‘The Soldier’ the poet admired England and expressed his gratitude
to it. The poet said, if he died, he wanted people to only think of one thing, that there was some
corner in a foreign country that was forever England. The poet meant that if he died in the war he
wanted to be remembered in a particular way. He wanted people to think of how the far-off land
on which he died would have a small piece of England forever. If he died on the battlefield, that
piece of land would be “claimed” by England because wars were sometimes fought, after all, over
land. The poet further described his death that if he died, his body would be buried in the earth.
The earth would be enriched by his dead body because his body was made from dirt born in
England. He explained how England created him and gave him consciousness. England gave
him his blooming plants to fall in love with and gave him his sense of freedom. His body belonged
to England and he always breathed English air. England’s rivers cleansed him and he was blessed
by England’s sun. The poet implied that England was mother to him. His love for England and his
willingness to sacrifice was equivalent to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary
son, he could actually give his life to her. Basically, England played the role of the dust which was
the soldier’s mother.
Stanza 2:

In the second stanza of the poem the poet wanted his readers to consider the way in which his
soul, through death, would be made pure. His consciousness would be returned to the immortal
consciousness like a beating pulse, and returned the beautiful thoughts that England gave him.
The poet perhaps wanted to say that when the soldier went to heaven, he would become part of
that larger, unending being and perhaps re-experience, in the form of a pulse, all the thoughts
given by England. The poet meant that he would re-experience everything he once knew of
England which was his home after he died. The poet would return to the sights and sounds of his
home country and to the beautiful dreams that were as happy as England’s daytime. The poet
wanted the laughter to be shared with English friends and he would return to England’s gentleness
which lived in the English minds that were at peace under the English sky. The poet painted a
very joyous, peaceful picture of life after death that would be much like his happiest times spent
in England.

Themes in The Soldier

The major theme of the poem is patriotism. Though death is also a theme, the speaker’s patriotic
pride is in the spotlight. The speaker emphasizes the intrinsic connection between him and his
homeland in various instances. This is even evidenced through the title, "The Soldier."

The Beauty of English Life:

"The Soldier" would not have the same impact without the intense appeal of English life as Rupert
Brooke expresses it. Brooke was a sentimental, regional Georgian Poet, and his poem resonates
with the English understanding of country love. This theme is common to many of England's
greatest poets and writers. J.R.R. Tolkien's (1892–1973) fantasy of rural England as the Hobbits'
Shire in The Lord of the Ring (1954–55) and in The Hobbit (1837) is one famous example. During
the 1800s that love rooted deep in English land and English life was common. That familiar
national love offers a rich and tender vision of the soldier surviving in the universal mind and in
constant contact with his beloved land.

Personification of England:

Rupert Brooke paints such a vivid picture of England and English life that he makes the thought
of the soldier giving himself in a pure and generous sacrifice to the nation he loves easy to
imagine. As presented the idea is not false or artificial. Brooke and people who shared his
affection for England viewed the land as almost an entity in her own right to whom a person could
offer their life. Brooke's idea of England is not just passive and environmental. He writes of
England as a personified force of nature with human attributes of action and choice. England
creates people. She gives flowers. She offers herself to her soldier including her paths and rivers
and "the suns of home." Sentiments that might seem false and overly sweet in other hands seem
plausible from someone whose metaphors are so rich, affectionate, and humanizing. Brooke
offers an England worth dying for because she is worth living in.
Enduring Love:

Rupert Brooke presents love as enduring after death and after a deceased person is incorporated
into the universal mind or "a pulse in the eternal mind." The soldier's love for England which is
formed of memories and experiences lasts and is returned even while in the abstract, impersonal
form of being reduced to a mere pulse.

The enduring love that is given and received provides an endless circle of immortal existence.
Heaven is England because England is what the soldier loved. It is the humanized state that loved
the soldier. The affection flows around and around the loop from one back to the other, making
both immortal.

The Wirers Summary

It’s a simple poem about the dangerous job of repairing the barbed wire in front of the trenches
during World War I. This had to be done at night otherwise the wirers would be shot. Occasionally
the enemy (Germans in this case) would fire up a flare to illuminate No Mans Land, the land
between the allied and German trenches. Thats how poor Hughes was caught out in the poem.
The best thing to do to avoid detection in poor light is to stand absolutely still – the eye is designed
to detect movement.
“Wirers” is a short poem by English poet Siegfried Sassoon. It was written in 1917 and
published in Sassoon’s collection, Counter-Attack and Other Poems in 1918. Sassoon was a
British army officer who fought on the Western Front during World War I. He is most famous for
his antiwar poems, and “Wirers” is typical of his work. The poem is about a group of British
soldiers who venture at night into the area known as no-man’s-land in order to repair the
barbed-wire entanglements protecting the British line from German attack. The antiwar theme is
sharply conveyed in the ironic final line.

Summary of base details

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) wrote ‘Base Details’ in 1917; it appeared in his diary entry for 4
March. It’s one of his best short poems satirizing the older generation who sent so many younger
men to their deaths in the First World War.

The major in this poem is cynical, he treats war as if it is a game. 'last scrap.' The major knows
nothing of war because he has never been on the frontline. The major is a figure associated with
power and privilege. Also, he knows that the meaning of the "last scrap" is how the major thinks
of war, a game.

The title of the poem "Base Details"- Base possibly meaning a military base and Details could be
a command assignment, someone or something lowly. "Fierce; and bald, and short of breath" this
would be a stereotypical World War I officer.

"Glum heroes" refer to the heroes by dying they are unhappy. "Up the line" is the battlefield. "Puffy
petulant face" is the officer's faces from the excessive eating and drinking. "Guzzling and gulping
in the best hotel": The officers eat and drink until their hearts delight while the best hotel refers to
them living in the lap of luxury. This also could portray them as acting like monsters and this is
what Sassoon intended.

In the second line is the phrase "scarlet major" which is possibly a double entendre . Scarlet (red)
has several different meanings. One reference is to the red tabs that staff officers wore on the
lapels of their dress uniforms. These denoted them as non-regimental officers that would never
see actual fighting, but work safely in the rear headquarters. Another reference is to the red blood
on their hands from knowing that they have killed all these people by sending them to the front
line. It could also imply that their faces are red from being drunk or that they are very childish,
which implies they are ignorant and will do anything to get what they want. Also, their faces might
be red because they are so obese and they are out of breath from doing nothing.

"Poor Young Chap" this direct speech can be interpreted as that it mimics the Majors as they
pretend to care, to get the public on their side, said almost as a matter of routine. The term "Scrap"
can refer to the generals and Majors referring to the war as a game, or "scrap". "Youth stone
dead" a very blunt metaphor which shows the harshness of the author, who isn't impressed. The
last two lines however show how the war is not just a game, and how young boys are being
slaughtered for small sections of land that should not be valued the same as people's lives.
"Toddle" refers to the drunk Major and a very good use of satire as it is effective in diminishing
the normal view of a major, and "Die" is what Siegfried wants the major to do. Siegfried Sassoon
shows great disgust towards military majors. He is appalled at the way the majors act while men
are dying in the battlefield. The majors are fat, insensitive, greedy, vain and very proud, and
display no empathy with the soldiers whatsoever. The use of iambic pentameter and a regular
rhyming scheme help create a tone of sarcasm. As the topic is serious such an upbeat rhythm
would normally, seem inappropriate except that Sassoon skillfully employs the techniques to
satirize the complacent attitude of majors who never have to face the horror of war.

Themes in Base Details

"Base Details" is a bitingly satirical war poem that takes aim at the World War I military
establishment. The poem’s speaker imagines what his life would be like if he were one of the
comfortable top officers of the British Army. As an officer, he’d live an easy, luxurious life far
away from the horrors of the front line—and casually make military decisions that would send
countless young men to terrible deaths. Sassoon's poem paints the British military
establishment as entitled, uncaring, and corrupt, and suggests that World War I in general was
a game the old, rich, and powerful played with the lives of the young.

Picturing life as a high-status officer, the speaker suggests that higher-ups in the military have
little contact with the harsh reality of young soldiers’ lives. As a well-padded old officer, “bald
and short of breath,” the speaker imagines he’d spend his time among men just like himself, all
eating and drinking to their heart's content in the “best hotel” as though on holiday.

All this comfort, the speaker implies, forms a sharp contrast with the hunger, fear, misery, and
poignant youth of the soldiers on the front line. These old officers don’t seem to have any real
sense of the suffering their decisions create: they read through the names of the dead (the "Roll
of Honour") making flippant remarks and describing the latest battle as a mere "scrap." Their
callous attitude towards the waste of young lives suggests just how distant they are from the
horrors of battle.

Despite their removal from war’s grim realities, the officers' decision-making has a great impact
on what happens. The officers act like uncaring gods, "speed[ing]" soldiers into battle. Those in
positions of power don't feel the weight of their decisions precisely because they are so far
away. The officers thus have all the control but suffer none of the consequences.
The soldiers, on the other hand, have little control over the course of the war but must
experience its tragedy first-hand. To the former group, the war is abstract and far away; to the
latter, it is an awful daily reality.

And not only do these top officers fail to understand their part in the soldiers’ sufferings, they
don’t even feel a flicker of guilt. Long after the war is over, the speaker imagines, these officers
will “toddle safely home and die—in bed.” In other words, they’ll die comfortably in their own
cozy beds, never confronting the battlefield horrors they commanded.

The poem thus illustrates two parallel wartime experiences: one for the powerful, and one for
the powerless. Through its portrait of selfish, greedy, indifferent, and shameless old majors, the
poem depicts war as an absurd and tragic game, played at the whim of the elderly elite—and
paid for with the blood of the helpless younger generation.

Summary of The General

‘The General’ is one of the most famous poems written by Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967). After
Wilfred Owen, Sassoon was probably the most celebrated – and perhaps the most gifted –
English poet to write about his experiences in the First World War. But where Owen writes
about ‘the pity of war’, Sassoon gives us another emotion: anger.

A general greets his troops as they arrive in Belgium and northern France ready to fight. That
was a week ago; already, most of the soldiers are dead, and those men who survive are cursing
the general and his fellow officers for their incompetence. One of the soldiers, Harry, says to
another, Jack, that the general is surprisingly cheery given that he is marching his men into the
fray. The poem ends with Sassoon telling us that both Harry and Jack were killed at Arras (a city
in northern France) as a direct result of the general’s battle plans.