Concetti Chiave
- The poem highlights the contrast between the illusion of war's glory and its harsh reality through its structure.
- Sassoon employs a children's rhyme style to underscore the innocence and youth of the soldier driven to suicide.
- The title "Suicide in the Trenches" suggests that the soldier's depression is a shared experience among many in the war.
- The juxtaposition of joyful beginnings and tragic endings enhances the emotional impact on the reader.
- Sassoon aims to convey that war is not noble but rather destructive, affecting both the dead and the survivors.
Sassoon writes Sassoon writes Suicide in the trenches
This poem talks about the contrast between illusion and reality. The structure of the poem adds to the stark change the boy has suffered throughout the war. Sassoon uses the same structure that a children’s rhyme usually has, and this is perhaps intended to emphasize that this boy, turned into a soldier and driven to suicide, was still just a boy. The depression of the young soldier is also shown to be shared by many; the title ‘Suicide in the Trenches’ is evidence of this fact.
The word ‘trenches’ further emphasizes that the depression the young soldier feels is felt throughout all the trenches, and therefore many others in war. The juxtaposition between the first two stanzas adds to the effect intended upon the reader by Siegfried Sassoon. He wants us to feel the harsh reality of war; cold, unjust, harsh and depressing, and the image of a happy young man driven to suicide by war certainly emphasizes this point. This jarring contrast makes the boy’s death a lot sadder and brings out sympathy in the reader. In the last line he is trying to tell the public that they are sending their soldiers off to hell; to a place that they will never forget; to a place that they may never leave. Sassoon wants the public to realise war is not glorious, it is evil, depressing, dark and gloomy; it not only kills thousands of men, but destroys the lives of those who survive
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