SUICIDE IN THE TRENCHES

2. The author claims of “Suicide in the Trenches” that Siegfried Sassoon “makes his point clear with tremendous force and effectiveness”. What is the poet’s message and how effectively (in your opinion) is the message conveyed?

Siegfried Sassoon demonstrates an incredibly forceful and effect point in his poem Suicide in the Trenches. Sassoon emphasise the precious life that is being wasted and forgotten in war. He creates the image of a young soldier boy, a normal boy with hopes and dreams, a normal content boy with an appreciation for life and peace - his world was totally uncorrupted. As the poem continues it reverses this idea - as the boy commits suicide in the trenches. It comes to show just how horrifying the conditions must have been for a happy young man to do such a thing. War is so horrific that it has forced him to destroy his own life - a beautiful boy full of vivacity, gone. There is a mention of how the boy is forgotten after he shoots himself, meaning no-one wants to be reminded of just how terrible war can effect people. In the final paragraph Sassoon mentions the shame people should feel for sending these promising young men to war, totally destroying everything they are and ever will be. The messages are clear: people cannot possibly imagine the horrors war presents and the precious life which it so carelessly destroyed. War is not meant to glorified, but shamed. In terms of poetic techniques, the poet uses alliteration, rhyme and very descriptive language.