Theme Analysis of Siegfried Sassoon's and Rupert Brooke's Poem Through Diction.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya membahas dan membandingkan tiga puisi tentang Perang Dunia I karya Rupert Brooke dengan tiga puisi tentang Perang Dunia I karya Siegfried Sassoon. Keenam puisi ini menceritakan tentang sudut pandang kedua pujangga tersebut tentang perang tersebut.

Setelah membaca keenam puisi tersebut, saya memutuskan untuk membahas tema yang diangkat oleh kedua pujangga. Saya membahas pandangan mereka yang berbeda terhadap Perang Dunia I melalui diksi yang digunakan dalam puisi mereka.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

World War I that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918 generated suffering throughout the world, most especially Europe. This war, also known as the “Great War,” was a war between the Central Powers countries: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey; and the allies that consist of the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Romania, Montenegro, Portugal, Italy, and Japan. Billion of men and women died during this war.

Brooke and Sassoon’s involvement in war provided them the chance and

materials to write about the war. Their strong images and different points of view about war that are shown in their works are known globally and acknowledged as some of the famous poems ever written.

Rupert Brooke was already famous during his study in King’s College. He

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Keynes, E.M. Forster and Lytton Strachey. He was also a part of another literary group known as the Georgian Poets and was one of the most important figures in Dymock poets, which are associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, where he spent some time before the war. His war poems came to public attention when The Times Literary Supplement, a famous magazine for literary works during 1915, quoted two of his sonnets “V: The Soldier” and “III: The Dead.”

The other poet I chose to analyze for the comparison is Siegfried Sassoon. In contrast to Brooke, who brought patriotism theme in his poems, “Sassoon wrote of the horror and brutality of trench warfare and contemptuously satirized generals, politicians, and churchmen for their incompetence and blind support of

the war” (“Siegfried Sassoon 1886 - 1967”). Sassoon was known for his satirical

and realistic way of describing war as well as for his use of imagery in describing his trauma and feelings towards war. On the other hand, Brooke’s poems were seen as a romantic way of portraying war.

Both Brooke and Sassoon gave a lot of contributions to the literary world. They have inspired other literary figures; one of them was the poet John Gillespie Magee Jr., who was inspired by Rupert Brooke so that he wrote a poem entitled

“Sonnet to Rupert Brooke.”

These two men of literature wrote a lot of war themed poems. I only chose a few poems which are notable and comparable from both poets. Brooke’s poems,

which themes are mostly about the soldier’s patriotism of war are variant to

Sassoon’s satirical poems, which themes mostly talk about the shell-shock trauma

the soldier experienced and the horror of the battlefield itself. Brooke’s romantic

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have gained a lot of interests considering how he strived to romanticize war and

how the words in his poems are well composed, while Sassoon’s “Survivors,”

“Counter-Attack,” and “Suicide in Trenches” are famous for their gruesome and

traumatic images of war—a violent contrast to Brooke’s romantic poems.

Sassoon’s works are satirical and realistic as Sassoon himself had been in the

battlefield and injured. He was sent to Craiglockhart Hospital, where he wrote his gloomy poems of war which were based on his experiences in the front line.

The themes are the most dominant element in each poem I chose and they are seen through diction. It helps reveal the different perspective of each author towards the war. Theme as described in the online Oxford Dictionaries is “an idea

that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.” (“Theme”), and diction is

“the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing” (“Diction”).

I chose theme through diction to show the authors’ different points of view of World War I itself: Brooke with his patriotism theme and romantic portrayal of war, while Sassoon with his satirical and gloomy theme of war. Their diction show what they were trying to convey about war, how war was portrayed in their own points of view, and how they are involved in war themselves.

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The problems that I am going to discuss are:

1. What are the themes of the poems?

2. How do the diction of the poems help reveal the themes?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on the problems above, the purposes of this study are: 1. To reveal the themes of the poems.

2. To show how the diction of the poems help reveal the themes.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

The method of research that I use is library research, beginning by reading the chosen poems of Rupert Brooke’s and Siegfried Sassoon’s. The research is continued by analyzing the primary texts using the information and materials from the Internet to support my opinion and analysis. Lastly, I draw some conclusions of what has been discussed.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

This thesis consists of four chapters, preceded by the Table of Contents and the Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. In Chapter Two, I analyze the themes of Rupert Brooke’s poems through diction. In Chapter Three, I

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analyzing six poems of Rupert Brooke’s and Siegfried Sassoon’s, I have come to some conclusions. In my opinion, it is clear that Sassoon’s and

Brooke’s involvement in World War I has influenced both poets in writing their poems. This is revealed through the dictions each poet chose for their poems.

In the first poem, “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke, he showed how one’s

death for his/her country is patriotic. It is shown through the theme, which is:

“One’s sacrifice for his/her own country in war is patriotic.” Brooke managed

to draw the readers away from the gruesomeness of war by choosing the dictions “flowers,” “blest by suns,” “happy,” “laughter,” “friends,” “gentleness,” and the

“peace” to show the good things that the soldier will gain once he passes away,

which gives us a rather happy and beautiful imagery rather than a gloomy and gruesome one. Not to mention that he also repeatedly mentioned the word “England” throughout the poem, giving more sense of nationality and patriotism

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In the second poem, “The Dead,” Brooke succeeded to affirm sacrifice,

honor and nobility through the poem. The theme for this poem is “One’s sacrifice in war will give the country and themselves nobility and honor.” The soldiers give up his “serene” time and the “sons they gave,” which implies to their future,

to go to war. For this sacrifice they will gain “honor” for themselves and for their country as Brooke stated that “honor” has come back just like a “king” that rules

all over the country. They will also have regained their “nobleness” by making this sacrifice. They will have their own “heritage,” which is a free and noble

country.

In the last poem of Brooke that I have analyzed, “Peace,” he showed the readers how war has given the soldiers a sense of inner peace. The theme of this poem is “One can actually find peace during war if he/she is brave and willing to fight and die for their country.” These soldiers who are ready to go to war have “sharpened power,” “clear eye,” and blessed with the “youth.” They are

willing to go like “swimmers into cleanness leaping,” like a jump into the water.

Brooke emphasized their willingness by choosing the word “leap” to suggest a playful vibe; they bravely volunteer to join the war. These soldiers with their “laughing hearts” are not afraid of death for they will find a “release” which implies peace, if they die in war. They will no longer know the “shame” they had

in their past, and the “agony” the soldiers feel during war will end because “death” will take it away. They will finally find peace.

The next poem is “Survivors” by Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon’s satirical

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effect war leaves in one’s life lasts a lifetime.” In this poem, Sassoon

sarcastically said that the injured soldiers who go to war will “no doubt” heal, and that they are “longing to go out again.” But it is all a lie, as Sassoon followed each of the phrases with “stammering, disconnected talk” and “scared faces.” The

soldiers’ physical wounds might heal, but they would be left stammering, shocked

and scared, which are the symptoms of a shell-shock patient; they are wounded psychologically. Their nights are “haunted” by “the ghosts of friends who died”

and their dreams “drip with murder.” The effect does not only apply to the soldiers, but also to those who are related to them, like their children. War has taken away their fathers, leaving them fatherless, “broken,” and “mad.”

The next poem by Siegfried Sassoon is “Counter-Attack.” The theme of

this poem is “No matter how hard one fights during a battle, the fight is still

helpless and futile.” The helplessness and futility are shown through the dictions

in the poem as Sassoon began the poem by describing the soldiers’ condition in the front line. Their faces are “pallid;”they are “unshaved” and “thirsty,”“blinded

with smoke,” which show that they are unhealthy. Sassoon even used “trodden sand-bags” as a comparison for the dead soldiers’ body because they are ignored

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The last poem of Sassoon that I analyzed is “Suicide in The Trenches.” This poem talks about how war takes away joy and innocence of life. The theme of this poem is “War can ruin one’s innocence and enjoyment of life.” This theme is seen through the dictions Sassoon chose. He opened the poem by telling a story of a “simple soldier boy” who grins at “empty joy,” “whistled early with the lark,” and “slept soundly” although the night is lonely and dark. These

dictions show how innocent and naïve the boy is before he goes to war. He turns into a “[cowing]” and “glum” soldier in a cold “winter trenches” that are filled with “crumps and lice.” He feels so intimidated and dejected that he “put a bullet

through his brain,” ending his life in such a horrible way because of war. Sassoon

ended the poem with a bitter, sarcastic and angry tone as he stated that those who do not go to war, which then he compares war to “hell,” will never know and wrote patriotic themed poems because of his failure to reach the battlefield as he passed away on his way to war, hence the positive imagery of war he brought in his poems using the dictions such as “happy,” “gentleness,” “peace” and “laughter” to romanticize the war. On the other hand, Sassoon had a realistic point

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disconnected talk," "scared faces," "clamour," "gusts from hell," to realistically portray the war.

Although the two poets have a different point of view of war, both of them also share a few similarities. Both of them were British, both are soldiers and sent by the government to war, and wrote poems about war. Their themes are different; however, both of them focus on a public view of war. As stated in Sassoon’s poem “Suicide in The Trenches,” he was well aware of the people who support

the war. From what he wrote in the poem, he realized that there are people who cheer for the soldiers who are marching to go to war. Those are the people who do not know how gruesome and traumatic war can be. In my opinion, those people, who are caught up by the government’s propaganda of war, seem to think

that going to war is patriotic, as seen in Brooke’s poems’ themes. Both poets brought people’s points of view of the World War I in their poems. They can be said to represent the people who are for and against the war.

As of the figure of speech, both poems mostly use metaphor and symbolism to create an imagery of war based on their own point of view. For example, Sassoon used the word “hell” as the metaphor of war, the word “lark” to

symbolize a joyful persona, while Brooke symbolized the beauty of England by the word “flowers,” or referring to the men who do not want to go to war as

having “sick hearts.”

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neither of them are better than the other; they both succeed to show the readers about the people’s point of view of war. At first, I agreed with Sassoon on his

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts:

“1914 I: Peace” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

“1914 III: The Dead” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

“Counter-Attack” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

“Suicide in The Trenches” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

“Survivors” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

“The Soldier” poemhunter.com. N.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

References:

“Agony” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 2 June. 2015.

“Bear” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Blunder” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 28 Sep. 2015.

“Bugle” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

“Blear” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

“Cow” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

“Crumps.” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

“Dud” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

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“Gallop” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 2 June. 2015.

“Grim” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

“Heritage” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Longing” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

Griffiths, G.M. “The Dead – Rupert Brooke” Move Him Into The Sun, 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.

Griffiths, G.M. “Peace – Rupert Brooke” Move Him Into The Sun, 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.

Hinckley, Paul. “Battlefield Colloquialisms of the Great War (WW1)” Griffith University, N.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

“Pallid” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Rich” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

"Roam" Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 28 Sep. 2015.

“Rupert Brooke (1887 –1915)” bbc.co.uk. N.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

“Romanticize” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

Self, Cameron. “Siegfried Sassoon” Poets Graves. N.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2016

“Serene” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Shaped” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Sharpen” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Siegfried Sassoon” poetryfoundation.org. N.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

“Siegfried Sassoon (1886 –1967)” bbc.co.uk. N.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

“Smug” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Theme” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

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“Tread” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

“Trench.” Oxford Dictionaries Language Matters. N.d. Web. 28 Sep. 2015.

“Shell Shocked” apa.org. N.d. Web. 14 Sep. 2015.