A Soldiers Declaration

Siegfried Sassoon, “Finished with the War: A Soldiers Declaration”

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.

I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.

I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insecurities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.

Emotive language – ‘I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops’.

Personal pronouns – even though he speaking as a collective he uses ‘I’ all the way through the letter.

Opinions – the whole letter is his opinion ‘I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest’  however he makes it seem like a fact ‘I have seen’.

Repetition – the word suffering is repeated 3 times to show that the suffering of the soldiers was continuous.

Alliteration – ‘callous complacence’ has a harsh sound.

Religious imagery – even though Sassoon was an atheist he describes the war as ‘unjust’ which is religious.

Aftermath

Aftermath

Have you forgotten yet?...
For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same--and War's a bloody game...
Have you forgotten yet?...
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.

Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz--
The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?
Do you remember the rats; and the stench
Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench--
And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?
Do you ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?'

Do you remember that hour of din before the attack--
And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then
As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?
Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
With dying eyes and lolling heads--those ashen-grey
Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?

Have you forgotten yet?...
Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you'll never forget.

Siegfried Sassoon

v  ‘Have you forgotten yet?’ is a rhetorical question and is repeated to show that soldiers can’t forget about the war because it had such a bad effect on people.

v  Some rhyme scheme.

v  ‘Do you remember..’ is another rhetorical question and is also repeated which juxtaposes the question of have you forgotten yet but also shows that soldiers can’t forget about the war.

v  ‘dawn coming, dirty-white’ dirty-white suggests that they don’t want another day to come

v  ‘and chill with a hopeless rain’ pathetic fallacy, shows that the soldiers could feel hopeless during the war.

v  ‘corpses rotting’ many people died and bodies were just left there, death was a common occurrence

v  ‘Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
With dying eyes and lolling heads--those ashen-grey
Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?’ Shows the physical effects of war. ‘dying eyes’ personification.

v  ‘Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?’ before soldiers were excited to go to war because they thought they were doing something good for the country – patriotic, also shows that war has changed this because of the things they've experienced.