No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.
Of course they’re ‘longing to go out again,’—
These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.
They’ll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,—
Their dreams that drip with murder; and they’ll be proud
Of glorious war that shatter’d all their pride…
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.
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Comments
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To my mind it is clear that Sassoon is using a large dose of irony in this piece.
He describes the horrific symptoms suffered by some combat soldiers and discounts them with the unthinking comments used by the general public (and a lot of the medical and military top-brass) of the time. Symptoms that he knew only too well from his own personal experience.
To be able to write such great and illuminating verse whilst being treated for shell-shockat Graiglockhart Hospital himself is a mark of his value as a poet. -
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Shell-shock is now described as combat neurosis. It is described here http://www.enotes.com/gale-psychology-encyclopedia/combat-neurosis
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This poem...
From guest Crystal (contact)
This poem... it is by far one of my favourite Sassoon. It's quite sarcastic places - "No doubt they'll soon be well"... I finished my English Literature course on war poetry last year. I wish I'd written on this poem back then. It's too late now. He's obviously describing the symptoms of shell-shock. A very hard-hitting poem. -
This poem seems to be about 'survivors'- those soldiers who lived on but who didn't survive, who turned mad with fear and with shellshock. It is a write of war- not the jingoistic war but the realistic and negative war. The use of enjambment helps the form and rhyme here, without seeming forced. The language is formal and Standard English, typical of its period and showing this is a placeless piece, it could happen to any of the young men who had been sent to war. This poem is written in 3rd person, perhaps providing a more objective form. This poem is typical of its period as it is about war, and a form write, but it is untypical of the views of the period as it questions the morality of war. The sibilance in 'shock and strain' adds emphasis, especially since 'strain' is the last word of the line. 'dreams that drip' contains a quite hard 'dr' sound- suggesting how hard it is for them to keep going, how cruel war is. The alliteration in 'grim and glad' shows an ironic sense of connectedness with grimness (which could mean sorrow or seriousness) and gladness (joy). 'boys with old, scared faces' shows a look of fear, and also that these young men have had their youth stolen from them. 'disconnected talk' shows speech without meaning, a life that seems meaningless to live, yet these young men have so much to communicate. 'Ghosts of friends' symbolises the dead friends, their shellshock and their memories. 'Dreams that drip with murder' show the memories of a war that forces young men to kill. I liked this poem
It was a powerful piece, and I agree with him
All the best to the OP team and other readers
Pozo
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"Their dreams that drip with murder"
Could this perhaps be a vague indication that war is murder? Hmm.
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