A Soldiers Sacrifice in “They” and “Disabled” In Siegfried Sassoon’s “They” and Wilfred Owens “Disabled”, both poems describe the physical and emotional trauma that soldiers experienced in the trenches and on the battlefield. Those left on the home front did not understand the circumstances that the soldiers were under and were shocked when their boys came home suffering from “shell shock” and PTSD. “Social reactions to shell shock victims varied from sympathy or anger at the war to confusion and shame over what was misunderstood as “insanity” arising from within the family” (Scragg 178.) There was a general lack of understanding, and because the war was so romanticized and disillusioned, those who did not witness the horrors of war first
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The glory and romanticized idea of war has finally come to a sudden halt now that the soldiers are left to deal with the haunting and crippling consequences of modern warfare. Through the particular use of structure and language, Sassoon and Owen both convey this idea of reality and implement some of their own experiences into their poems. The sacrifices that soldiers made for their country were great, but the consequences and repercussions were unexpected and left many feeling hopeless and lost as they tried to move forward with their lives once the war had ended. Owen remains on a more personal level as he explores the thoughts of a single solider, left disabled in the prime of his life. This solider was swept into the glory of war and the physical appeal he would obtain. But instead he is left crippled, both physically and emotionally, and completely forgotten by those who initially praised him. The tone is somber as reality has finally set in and the depression is overwhelming. On the other hand Sassoon shows the side of those both on the home front and those on the battlefield and the balance they try to fin in understanding what exactly has happened. Those at home believe that it was all in the name of God and for the motherland. But the tone here is abrasive and upfront as soldiers see things differently and see how the idea of war has been distorted and what affects that it can have on the mind and body. Both poems express different circumstances and reactions to the state that the soldiers return in, both accomplish the idea of how no one is the same once they have been on the battlefield and experience the horrors of
The glory and romanticized idea of war has finally come to a sudden halt now that the soldiers are left to deal with the haunting and crippling consequences of modern warfare. Through the particular use of structure and language, Sassoon and Owen both convey this idea of reality and implement some of their own experiences into their poems. The sacrifices that soldiers made for their country were great, but the consequences and repercussions were unexpected and left many feeling hopeless and lost as they tried to move forward with their lives once the war had ended. Owen remains on a more personal level as he explores the thoughts of a single solider, left disabled in the prime of his life. This solider was swept into the glory of war and the physical appeal he would obtain. But instead he is left crippled, both physically and emotionally, and completely forgotten by those who initially praised him. The tone is somber as reality has finally set in and the depression is overwhelming. On the other hand Sassoon shows the side of those both on the home front and those on the battlefield and the balance they try to fin in understanding what exactly has happened. Those at home believe that it was all in the name of God and for the motherland. But the tone here is abrasive and upfront as soldiers see things differently and see how the idea of war has been distorted and what affects that it can have on the mind and body. Both poems express different circumstances and reactions to the state that the soldiers return in, both accomplish the idea of how no one is the same once they have been on the battlefield and experience the horrors of