Textuality » 5ALS Interacting
They
by Siegfried Sassoon
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The Bishop tells us: ‘When the boys come back |
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‘They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought |
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‘In a just cause: they lead the last attack |
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‘On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought |
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‘New right to breed an honourable race, |
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‘They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.’ |
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‘We’re none of us the same!’ the boys reply. |
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‘For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind; |
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‘Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die; |
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‘And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find |
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‘A chap who’s served that hasn’t found some change.’ |
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And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange!’ |
Analysis:
The first question is: they who? First of all the reader realise that the poem consist into two sestet. There is a speaking voice that reports what the bishop, a religious institution, said. The explanation of the bishop’s idea is reported by the direct speech, as a homely. War changes people even if they are young and the speaking voice tries to explain the change telling the audience that fighting in war is not a right cause.
The Antichrist is a metaphorical use of the language by with the bishop speaks about the enemy, a demon: if you do not fight the enemy you go to hell. The poet criticized the Church anthropomorphising the figure of the Bishop. People who died in war bought to a new honourable race. The worlds in capital are Bishop, Antichrist and Death. Using the direct speech, therefore using the exact worlds of the bishop the speaking voice convey the exact opposite. The second sestet remind you the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet, in which the sestet has the function to provide a possible solution. Indeed, now the abstract They of the title becomes somebody: Bill, George, Jim, Bert, and so identities. Life here is rendered though metonymy referring to pars of the body has been wounded. The poem juxtaposes two different point of view: the abstract and the concrete. The Bishop represents war as a glorious thing, because it war shows how brave and noble one is, and it is also a way to keep the entire world safe. This idea is juxtaposed and in contrasts with the idea of the speaking voice. Indeed, in reality glory in war does not exist.