Attack by Siegfried Sassoon

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Attack by Siegfried Sassoon Essay by Qurratulain Shahood Literature in English (AS) Siegfried Sassoon’s revealing poem ‘Attack’ is an expression of the apathy and futility of war. Laced with graphic images of combat and a lurking sense of doom, ‘Attack’ crumbles the glorified image of war into nothingness. Sassoon’s hostility to war can be seen in the way he disregards any element of fantasy in war- for him, war is a brutal reality of bloodshed, heartbreak and utter loss of hope. The structure of the poem is somewhat crowded- a stretch of thirteen lines with abrupt stops and endings in the middle of lines. These portray a sense of foreboding and uncertainty in cramped conditions. It seems as it the speaker’s mind is teeming with ideas and images that have been skillfully penned down in succession. The speaker appears to b an observer throughout the poem. He begins the poem with a striking antithesis of ‘dawn’ with ‘dun’. ‘Dawn’ which would generally symbolize a new beginning, is now only dark, dismal and cold. Hence, from the very onset, the speaker establishes a gloomy mood which serves to build up the tension later on. Furthermore, the landscape is bathed in ‘wild purple of the glowering sun’. this image in itself is so shocking, that the sun, which provides light, guidance, and energy for the world, now scowls at it with sullen dislike. The third line seeks to inform us that there has been an attack already- fumes of a blazing fire that has been put out linger, and envelope the ‘menacing scarred slope’. This suggests that the previous encounters of the armies have blemished the landscape to such an extent that it now appears to be terrorizing. So war is not as neat and comfortable as it is perceived to be- indeed, was is frightening for those who fight it, much like the ‘ menacing scarred slope’. It does not only damage natural scenery, but also

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