Introduction Imagine you are a soldier who has served on the front line in a war. You return home. What kind of psychological challenges do you face? Development Complete the blanks in the poem with one of the words from the list: a) blind b) haunted c) dark d) hopeless e) sandbags f) stench g) rumbled h) haggard Aftermath, by Siegfried Sassoon Have you forgotten yet?... For the world’s events have _________________________ on since those gagged days, Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-­‐ways: And the ____________________ gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go, Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare. But the past is just the same – and War’s a bloody game… Have you forgotten yet?... Look down and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget. Do you remember the __________________ months you held the sector at Mametz – The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled ________________ on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the ____________________ Of corpses rotting in front of the front-­‐line trench – And dawn coming, dirty-­‐white, and chill with a _________________ rain? Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’ Do you remember that hour of din before the attack – And the anger, the __________________ compassion that seized and shook you then As you peered at the doomed and _________________faces of your men? Do you remember the stretcher-­‐cases lurching back With dying eyes and lolling heads—those ashen-­‐grey Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay? Have you forgotten yet?... Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget. Discuss your answers with a partner. Read the full poem and correct your answers where necessary. © Education Umbrella, 2014 1 Aftermath, by Siegfried Sassoon Have you forgotten yet?... For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days, Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-­‐ways: And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go, Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare. But the past is just the same – and War’s a bloody game… Have you forgotten yet?... Look down and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget. Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz – The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets? Do you remember the rats; and the stench Of corpses rotting in front of the front-­‐line trench – And dawn coming, dirty-­‐white, and chill with a hopeless rain? Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’ Do you remember that hour of din before the attack – And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men? Do you remember the stretcher-­‐cases lurching back With dying eyes and lolling heads—those ashen-­‐grey Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay? Have you forgotten yet?... Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget. © Education Umbrella, 2014 2 Vocabulary 1) Complete the table Adjectives haunted, Verbs forget, Abstract nouns compassion, Concrete nouns rats, Remember, a concrete noun is one you can touch, an abstract noun is something intangible, e.g., a feeling, emotion or concept. Which verbs are the most powerful? 2) Match the words below with a synonym from the poem: a) observe = _______________ e) slump [verb] = b) commotion = ______________ _____________________ c) pardon (excuse) = f) tired = _________________________ __________________ g) stumble = _____________________ d) bad smell = ____________________ © Education Umbrella, 2014 3 3) Read the following definition: Gag Verb 1) Prevent (someone) from speaking freely or disseminating information 2) [no obj.] choke or retch Read the second line of the poem. What is the possible double meaning in the use of ‘gagged’? Soldiers would choke and retch on poison gas, while letters and newspaper reports were often censored to such an extent that people back in the UK had little idea of the true horror of the conflict. Can you find other words that have a double meaning? ‘and War’s a bloody game.’ ‘Bloody’ here acts as both an adjective (meaning covered with blood) and a curse (as in, ‘It’s too bloody hot!’); ‘ashen-­‐grey / Masks of the lads…’ ‘Masks’ could be both literal (meaning gas-­‐mask) and figurative (meaning the faces of the men no longer look human); ‘rumbled on’ invokes the rumbling of tanks, but also figurative rumblings of trouble to come. Poetic devices Similes A simile is a comparison of one thing with another thing using ‘like’ or ‘as’. Can you find two similes in the poem. Alliteration Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Can you find three examples of alliteration in the poem? Alliterative phrases are often easier to remember. Why is it, therefore, an appropriate device in this poem? 4 Comprehension Answer the questions below, citing line(s) from the poem to justify your answers. 1) Based on the references in the poem, which war do you think the writer is referring to? 2) When is the writer composing the poem – before, during or after the war? 3) What three colours does the writer mention? What kind of mood do they create? 4) What actions does the soldier remember performing? Context Siegfried Sassoon served as a second lieutenant in the Royal Welch Fusilliers during the First World War. During his time on the Western Front in France he earned a reputation for bravery. His actions later eanred him the Military Cross. In 1916 Sassoon was involved in the capture and defense of Mametz Wood, an area of northeastern France, north of the River Somme. Initially patriotic, Sassoon soon became disillusioned and angry at what he regarded as a huge waste of life. In 1917 he refused to return to front-­‐line duty. 5 Meaning 1) Who are the two voices in the poem? 2) Why do you think the writer is challenged to swear ‘by the green of the spring’? 3) What is curious about the use of ‘yet’ in ‘Have you forgotten yet’? It suggests that the speaker wants or expects the person to forget, but is immediately followed by a challenge to remember. 4) Do you think the writer wants to remember all the things mentioned in stanzas three and four (‘dark months… rats… stench’, etc.)? Why, then, is he being challenged to never forget? Clearly they are not pleasant memories, but the writer feels that to banish them would be to betray his ‘men’ and all those killed in the war. This is the terrible psychological paradox that survivors of the Great War had to endure. 5) Given that Sassoon wrote this poem in 1920, what is interesting about the last line of the fourth stanza? The Second World War would begin less than two decades later. Development In ‘Aftermath’ how does Sassoon capture the psychological torture endured by soldiers who survived the Great War? In ‘Aftermath’ decorated soldier Siegfried Sassoon uses a variety of poetical devices to capture one survivor’s inability to safely remember his horrific experiences of the Great War. The poem’s dual, second-­‐person narration reflects the schizophrenia that afflicts the soldier. Two internal voices compete for attention. The first, harsh, even somewhat sarcastic in tone, asks ‘Have you forgotten yet?’ The choice of ‘yet’ suggests that the soldier wants to forget, but has not yet succeeded. However, he is then challenged to swear ‘by the green of the spring’ that he will never forget. For a frontline soldier, the greenery of spring would have been the most precious source of hope, an inspiration amid the ‘dirty-­‐white’ dawns and ‘ashen-­‐grey’ faces that stalk the soldier’s thoughts. These memories of the conflict are so vivid that even the prevailing, apparently calmer voice of the writer betrays a lingering obsession: the description of the world’s events as having ‘rumbled on’ brings to mind those first tanks; thoughts flow ‘like clouds in the lit heaven of life’, a clear and ironically alliterative (‘like clouds in the lit heaven of life’) invocation of flares and the endless streams of smoke from the various heavy weapons; those dead (dormant?) days of war are 6 described as ‘gagged’, a twin reference to the involuntary choking of frontline soldiers and the deliberate suppression of information that meant Sassoon returned to an England that had little idea of what he and his men had been through. Even the seemingly casual use of ‘bloody’ in the line ‘and War’s a bloody game’ has a grim double meaning. Implored once more to swear (this time by ‘the slain of the War’) that he will never forget, the writer then disinters a series of increasingly painful recollections, beginning with the ‘dark months’ at Mametz, through rats and rotting corpses, and climaxing with the ‘dying eyes and lolling heads’ of men who were once ‘keen and kind and gay.’ For better or worse, it is the first, acerbic voice that has the final word: even if he could forget, the soldier is compelled to relive his horror with the green rebirth of each new spring. 7