Picture Show (Sassoon collection)/Memorial Tablet

by Siegfried Sassoon

Squire nagged and bullied till I went to fight,
(Under Lord Derby's scheme). I died in hell -

(They called it Passchendaele). My wound was slight,
And I was hobbling back; and then a shell
Burst slick upon the duckboards: so I fell
Into the bottomless mud, and lost the light

At sermon-time, while Squire is in his pew,
He gives my gilded name a thoughtful stare;
For, though low down upon the list, I'm there;
"In proud and glorious memory" ... that's my due.
Two bleeding years I fought in France, for Squire:
I suffered anguish that he's never guessed.
I came home on leave: and then went west...
What greater glory could a man desire?

Reference

http://www.aftermathww1.com/sassoon2.asp ‘Memorial Tablet’ by Siegfried Sassoon is a poem that makes the reader feel great pity for the soldiers. The author achieves this by adopting the persona of a dead soldier. The soldier is angry and tells us how his life was wasted, by his being forced to fight and end up dying for nothing. The details the poet gives us and the strong blunt language are the effective techniques for engaging our feelings for the soldier. The poem gives us insight in to what the war was about: a gruesome pointless death, for this soldier.

The poem opens with the Squire ‘nagged and bullies’ the boys of the town to go and fight for their country. The Squire stayed safe at home and didn’t go to war, which tells the reader that he knew what was going to happen to the boys when they went. I felt slightly upset to realise that the people of the town had no idea that the war was like being in a nightmare. The poem goes on to describe him by falling off the duckboards when a shell hit it. He fell in to bottomless mud and drowned a pointless death. I was amazed to hear that he had died, not fighting but hobbling back to camp. The soldier tells us that he is dismayed and astonished to find that his name is the only thing he has to show for his life. The soldier’s message is that there is no glory in death in war. I find it to be very honourable and brave for soldiers to go to war for the right reasons.