Hero by Siegfried Sassoon analysis
_'JACK FELL AS HE'D HAVE WISHED,' THE MOTHER SAID,_
_AND FOLDED UP THE LETTER THAT SHE'D READ._
_'THE COLONEL WRITES SO NICELY.' SOMETHING BROKE_
_IN THE TIRED VOICE THAT QUAVERED TO A CHOKE._
_SHE HALF LOOKED UP. 'WE MOTHERS ARE SO PROUD_
_OF OUR DEAD SOLDIERS.' THEN HER FACE WAS BOWED._
_QUIETLY THE BROTHER OFFICER WENT OUT._
_HE'D TOLD THE POOR OLD DEAR SOME GALLANT LIES_
_THAT SHE WOULD NOURISH ALL HER DAYS, NO DOUBT._
_FOR WHILE HE COUGHED AND MUMBLED, HER WEAK EYES_
_HAD SHONE WITH GENTLE TRIUMPH, BRIMMED WITH JOY,_
_BECAUSE HE'D BEEN SO BRAVE, HER GLORIOUS BOY._
_HE THOUGHT HOW 'JACK', COLD-FOOTED, USELESS SWINE,_
_HAD PANICKED DOWN THE TRENCH THAT NIGHT THE MINE_
_WENT UP AT WICKED CORNER; HOW HE'D TRIED_
_TO GET SENT HOME, AND HOW, AT LAST, HE DIED,_
_BLOWN TO SMALL BITS. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO CARE_
_EXCEPT THAT LONELY WOMAN WITH WHITE HAIR._
_The Hero by Siegfried Sassoon_
Sassoon titles his poem "The Hero," so the reader assumes the poem will praise a soldier's courage, however, the title deceives the reader as it is about a mother praises her son, fed by the lies of the military and government. The writer uses rhyming couplets and also some other rhyming patterns.
In the very first sentence, Sassoon highlights one of the main issues with the war. In the line, "Jack fell as he'd have wished," reveals a delusion on not only the mother's side but also on society's. No one wishes to die violently, especially not in a war, and believing that they do makes parents send their children off blindly to the violence occurring on the front line. The mother in the story and many others of this time and place had been brought up to be patriotic and to respect authority, and so it would have been very unlikely that these mothers would have protested against the war as they felt it was a patriotic duty of their son. Later on in stanza two, it says, "her glorious boy." This again references the idea that volunteering for the war is something to aim
_AND FOLDED UP THE LETTER THAT SHE'D READ._
_'THE COLONEL WRITES SO NICELY.' SOMETHING BROKE_
_IN THE TIRED VOICE THAT QUAVERED TO A CHOKE._
_SHE HALF LOOKED UP. 'WE MOTHERS ARE SO PROUD_
_OF OUR DEAD SOLDIERS.' THEN HER FACE WAS BOWED._
_QUIETLY THE BROTHER OFFICER WENT OUT._
_HE'D TOLD THE POOR OLD DEAR SOME GALLANT LIES_
_THAT SHE WOULD NOURISH ALL HER DAYS, NO DOUBT._
_FOR WHILE HE COUGHED AND MUMBLED, HER WEAK EYES_
_HAD SHONE WITH GENTLE TRIUMPH, BRIMMED WITH JOY,_
_BECAUSE HE'D BEEN SO BRAVE, HER GLORIOUS BOY._
_HE THOUGHT HOW 'JACK', COLD-FOOTED, USELESS SWINE,_
_HAD PANICKED DOWN THE TRENCH THAT NIGHT THE MINE_
_WENT UP AT WICKED CORNER; HOW HE'D TRIED_
_TO GET SENT HOME, AND HOW, AT LAST, HE DIED,_
_BLOWN TO SMALL BITS. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO CARE_
_EXCEPT THAT LONELY WOMAN WITH WHITE HAIR._
_The Hero by Siegfried Sassoon_
Sassoon titles his poem "The Hero," so the reader assumes the poem will praise a soldier's courage, however, the title deceives the reader as it is about a mother praises her son, fed by the lies of the military and government. The writer uses rhyming couplets and also some other rhyming patterns.
In the very first sentence, Sassoon highlights one of the main issues with the war. In the line, "Jack fell as he'd have wished," reveals a delusion on not only the mother's side but also on society's. No one wishes to die violently, especially not in a war, and believing that they do makes parents send their children off blindly to the violence occurring on the front line. The mother in the story and many others of this time and place had been brought up to be patriotic and to respect authority, and so it would have been very unlikely that these mothers would have protested against the war as they felt it was a patriotic duty of their son. Later on in stanza two, it says, "her glorious boy." This again references the idea that volunteering for the war is something to aim