Attack Flashcards
introduction
In this poem the harsh reality of trench warfare is discussed by a poet who had extensive first hand experience of the frontline and of the nightmares suffered by so many of the soldiers in WW1. The poem is framed in the universal contexts of war and death.
paragraphs
1) malign nature
2) horror of war
3) hopeless + futile nature of war
paragraph 1 on malign nature
1) “dawn” - The literary convention as dawn as a symbol of hope and new beginnings is subverted as for the soldiers this means death.
2) “the ridge” - the use of a definite article makes the ridge seem significant and threatening, perhaps also suggesting Sassoon’s personal connection with it.
3) “emerges” - present tense feels immediate making more threatening
4) “wild purple” - unnatural and fantastical as though the soldiers worst fears have come to life in this nightmarish landscape
5) “glowering…smouldering…menacing” - Nature feels malign and threatening, creating a sense of foreboding and setting up an ominous atmosphere. Continuous present suggests ongoing and unrelenting horror and attack on soldiers.
6) “spouts…scarred” - landscape seems like a wounded body with spouts of blood and battle scars.
7) “shroud” - double meaning as typically cloth to cover a dead body. This creates a sense that the ridge is preparing to become a burial bond, foreshadowing the slaughter to come.
paragraph 2 on horror of war
1) “tanks creep and topple” - seeming clumsy and uncoordinated, as though their death is inevitable
2) “the barrage roars and lifts” - this is a turning point as the battle finally starts with the anticipation and tension having been built up to a climax. Roar is onomatopoeic and reflects the savagery of war through its animalistic sound.
3) “clumsily bowed” - the soldiers seems weighed down and undignified, which subverts the literary convention of soldiers as powerful and heroic, suggesting the less glorious reality of war
4) “bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear” - polysyndetic list creates a sense of accumulation adding to the clumsy impression of the soldiers. Furthermore the accumulation of deadly weaponry reinforces the vicious nature of war as each soldier is burdened with weapons of death.
5) The very structure of the poem, as a curtail sonnet, reflects how the life of the soldiers is cut short prematurely and abruptly.
paragraph 3 on the hopeless and futile nature of war
1) “meet the bristling fire” - unspecific and no side stated, making war seem futile as well as deadly as ultimately both sides lose out
2) “lines of grey muttering faces” - reductive image suggests the way that war destroys humanity by dehumanising the soldiers. Furthermore prolepsis is used as the depiction of the soldiers as grey suggests they are dead before this has even come to pass. This suggests the tragic inevitability of war.
3) “time ticks blank and busy on their wrists” - time becomes meaningless as soldiers’ death is inevitable so it holds no meaningful future for them and is merely a count down to their death. Plosive alliteration suggests the anger of the Sassoon.
4) “hope…flounders” - Hope personified, seeming desperate and helpless, reinforcing the idea of an unheroic death. Furthermore the men seem to embody hope as it must be them who are really dying, which creates the impression that hope dies with the men. This suggests Sassoon’s disillusionment with war and life, having seen the horrors and deaths of war he has lost all hope.
Conclusion
The overwhelming emotion of the poet is one of despair as he sees the destruction of humanity of the battle field. Throughout the poem the extremity of the emotions of the poet build up until they climax at the end with the exclamation: “O Jesus, make it stop!” This prayer suggests the desperation of the poet, as though he is haunted by this recurring nightmare and is unable to abandon the horrors of war and move on. Furthermore this poem consists of 13 lines so it is a curtail sonnet. There is a sense that the poet is never able to reach the end and receive closure.
