Siegfried Sassoon Reflection Example
This is one example of a reflective response. It was written on a different topic, but the concept is the same. This journal entry, written from the perspective of Siegfried Sassoon, details his life and his views on war, and includes both quotes and techniques. Read through the text in your groups, then discuss its strengths, and more importantly, any weaknesses it has. You may also like to discuss why it is a reflection rather than a diary entry, which attributes of a diary entry are missing from the text. This discussion can be performed in person in your group, or in the forum at the bottom of the page.
Reflection by Siegfried Sassoon
I remembered the war again this morning, and was compelled to put my thoughts on the page. I know that there are many who may question my motivation for composing the way I do. I represent ‘man and war’ in such a way because I feel it is imperative to provide a realistic view of the war, as opposed to the glorified and romanticised view portrayed by many of my fellow poets. I cannot quietly stand by and allow this travesty to continue along unprotested; I would lose the right to call myself a man.
Although being, by nature, a shy man, not taken to public address, I cannot allow this injustice, this glorification of a war which is neither glorious nor heroic, to continue. The men do not battle for their country; they battle for their lives. Life, which should be sacred and revered, is casually tossed away by ‘incompetent generals to gain a few feet of mud, slush and bodies’ and corrupt politicians who wish to drag the war out interminably for their own selfish gains.
If my poetry is blunt, it is only so as to more effectively achieve my purpose of shocking the general populace into seeing war for what it truly is: a futile, senseless waste of human life.
As I write, I pray that future eyes shall fall across this page in a time far enough removed from my own that they might look upon my faults and naivety with understanding and judge my apparent loss of senses a falsehood. I am no more mad than any ‘ fierce, bald, and short of breath…scarlet’ generals I have met.
During my early years I was incredibly naïve, and my poems reflected my lack of any real substance in my life, or personal experiences. I was drawn towards dark images of death without any real knowledge of the subject, and images of bravery, dying for a cause.
I have always found imagery a powerful tool when constructing accurate scenes of despair and misery. I use imagery to convey the corruption of rational human thought and behaviour when exposed to horrific and terrifying conditions. Men were transformed into ‘dazed, muttering creatures underground’, ‘ a soft unanswering heap’, ‘lines of grey muttering faces’. How could they be expected to react any differently when exposed to scenes of unimaginable torment and suffering? Imagery is essential when capturing real vivid human emotion. Imagery is always most forceful when delivered en masse, as each new image brings a deeper level of complexity and strength to the poem, which is why accumulation in my texts is so important.
Accumulation is one form of imagery I have frequently employed to increase the impact of the already brutal individual images to create a landscape filled with carnage and devastation, such as in the poem ‘Counter Attack’ where I wished to create an accurate reflection of the true desolation and the sickening surroundings experienced by soldiers daily in the trenches. Accumulation enhances the power of each individual image, building complex, detailed scenes of the living conditions and personal experiences of the common soldier.
Through accumulated phrases of horror I represent the terror experienced when a man realises he is about to die, ‘dizzy with galloping fear, sick for escape - loathing the strangled horror and butchered, frantic gestures of the dead.’ By accumulating images of the wretchedness and misery that encapsulates all that is war; it allows me to create a strong empathetic connection between the responder and the characters depicted in my poetry.
I find Blasphemy a powerful tool when constructing shocking images of unrestrained terror and panic. I feel so incredibly strongly about the need for an end to this senseless, egotistical war that I felt ordinary language simply wasn’t strong enough. When humans are exposed to such enormous levels of stress and constant apprehension all else in their minds pales to insignificance ‘God blast your neck’ ‘O Christ, They’re coming at us!’ ‘O Jesus, make it stop’. When faced with death one finds solace in many ways.
Through all my pain, the haze of complete horror, disgust, and even anger, poetry has been my anchor, my one surety that I am sane, my release of all the vicious emotions that have been stagnating, cancerous and malignant. Poetry grants me a release; something that may appear a small thing, insignificant even, yet it has allowed me to truly feel, to connect on a deeper level, that ordinary speech can never penetrate.
I used poetry as it evokes potent images, creating a powerful and intimate understanding of the true nature of war. Poetry allows me to capture small moments in time, that in the scope of the conflict, may appear small and insignificant, but in reality capture the sheer terror experienced by ordinary soldiers ever day of the war and of the slaughter continuously committed.
The war to me now is so incredibly repugnant and sickening; the thought of it fills me with revulsion. I depict ‘man and war’ in this way simply because after having experienced war first hand, I could never go back to writing heroic stories of glory and sacrifice for one’s country. War is death, it is pain, suffering and struggle, and there is nothing glorious about it.
I use poetry, not only because it is the artistic medium with which I am most familiar, but also because of the deep emotional connection it creates between composer and responder.
Poetry allows the responder a glimpse of events far removed from their everyday existence. Poetry is accessible to all audiences, and may be viewed on numerous levels. It was extremely important to me to remain accessible in my writing to all groups within society, and to never again distance myself in such a way as to entirely lose sight of reality and the suffering of others. I was blind to the pain and the hardship of others until it was thrust upon me and I myself experienced pure terror and the knowledge that I was no longer in control of my own life. I am thankful everyday that I survived.