This passage is narrates how women dealt with hard times during World War I. What really attracted me to this passage is that he took the time to honor women for some of the things that are typically overlooked. It’s not often that you hear about the roles that women play, whether on the job or in the family; especially during that particular time. Usually during a war we hear hero stories of soldiers who risk their lives for their country; we hear about their bravery and strength; but instead Sassoon depicts women has being the heroes for what they continued to do back home.
You make us shells. You listen with delight,
By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled. (lines 5-6)
These two lines really showed the sincerity that he felt as he wrote. Here is acknowledging how well they listened to their wartime stories or anything similar. I really admired that this was something that he noticed; something that is typically taken for granted. (What more could a woman want!) I think that maybe it was just the long time spent away from home and loved ones that allowed him to capture the things that were not noticed before. I guess that time away really does make the heart grow fonder…but who knows how long this appreciation lasted after he returned home…
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Trenae,
ReplyDeleteIn this post, as in your previous one on Hardy, you seem to read the poems much more optimistically than the poems themselves warrant. Here Sassoon is not honoring women's contributions, but attacking them for what they do to pressure men to join the army and pretend to be the heroes the women expect. They tell stories about the war, but only the ones women want to hear. The line "You make us shells" cuts two ways: the women supply the bullets the men use to blow each other up, and they also turn the men into hollow shells by their expectations.
I, personally, saw this poem as very ironic in its picture of women. I agree with Dr. Glance in that this poem is an attack on women for the way they treat war, and the men who fight in them. In this poem, Sassoon comments on all the ways women contribute to the war, but not in a good light; rather, he points out all the flaws women contribute.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Sassoon may not have so much honored women but instead i interpreted the poem as him resenting them. In the above lines quoted it seems that he was not only referring to women but also society. At times when a soldier comes home he is expected to blend in with everyday life. But when when a soldier has post-war time depression after a while society stops taking into account how he acquired such a sympton.
ReplyDeleteThe lines that you have picked do seem to make him honor women for what they have done but the poem seems to me attacking women for what they have done. After wars, people change no matter how closely they remember the life before the war.
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