"Survivors" caught my attention because, like "'They,'" it deals with the change soldiers experience in war. It seems that Sassoon views the effect of war as simultaneously aging soldiers beyond their years, until they have "old, scared faces," and making them like "children, with eyes that hate you" (4, 10). Though the "shock and strain" they feel in a single battle may well be more than most feel in a lifetime, it also leaves them unable to care for themselves or articulate their thoughts- the "stammering, disconnected talk"- much like a child (1, 2).
I was, I admit, somewhat confused by aspects of the poem. The line "of course they're 'longing to go out again'" (3) was particularly perplexing. Perhaps it means that, like an infant, they are "learning to walk," yet still eager to see the world around them (4). However, this explanation doesn't fully explain it, I find- what are your thoughts?
I think that this poem has some similarities with "They" because even though indirectly, it deals with what others say about war versus what the soldiers actually experience. If you notice, there are different ideas separated mostly by semi-colons – “No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and strain have caused their stammering, disconnected talk”, “they’ll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed subjection to the ghosts of friends who died” (1,2, 5, 6). The first are uplifting statements of civilians, people with hope for the soldiers, while the second one is the reality which they are facing. Sassoon uses this juxtaposition of ideas once again, but this time it is line by line. In some cases it is the second idea which is the ‘civilian view’, like “Their dreams that drip with murder; and they’ll be proud of glorious war that shatter’d all their pride…” (7, 8). So in regards to “longing to go out again”, I think that’s just one of the outsider’s opinions.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't noticed the juxtaposition, but you're right- each line contains an idealistic, unrealistic view of war, which is then undercut by the reality. The statement "no doubt they'll soon get well," for example, is contradicted by the descriptions of the "shock and strain" they experienced (1).
ReplyDeleteEven when it isn't as explicit as in "Survivors" or "'They,'" I think juxtaposition is a central theme in Sassoon's work; particularly, the juxtaposition between romanticized visions of war and the grim reality of it. This so-called "glorious war" disguises an underbelly that has "shatter'd [soldiers] pride," that drips "with murder" (7-8).
More than juxtaposition being a theme in Sassoon's work, I believe it would be a literary device which he resorts to frequently. I agree with you, though, that several of his poems seem to focus on the contrast between what the war should be like- “glorious”, with men “longing to go out again”, and the nightmare which soldiers experience (3, 8). Like I mentioned in the first comment from “They”, “Suicide in the Trenches” also demonstrates this juxtaposition of idealistic war and the bona fide experience of what soldiers go through, so clearly it is a reoccurring theme in his poetry.
ReplyDeleteSomething which intrigues me is the reference to children, and child-like activity. The phrase “boys with old…faces” makes me think that he’s speaking about how young they go off to battle, but how quickly the “haunt[ing] nights” age them (4, 5). “Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad” seems to me like a loss of innocence (10). They are not “men who went out to battle” as the people would refer to them as, but rather children who had not yet lived enough (9). I find some hope from the soldier’s side in the phrase “learning to walk” (4). Most of what seems ideal and optimistic comes from the civilian point of view of the poem, while this comes from the soldier’s. I think that the reference to children then serves a double purpose – to demonstrate how “broken” the young ones come back from war, and the small slither of hope which even the soldiers can hold inside (10).