Base Details By Siegfried Sassoon If I were

Base Details By Siegfried Sassoon If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base, And speed glum heroes up the line to death. You’d see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap, ’ I’d say—‘I used to know his father well. Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap. ’ And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die — in bed.

What Does the Title Mean? ● In the title, the word base represents a military base because the poem is about war. ● Base also means bottom. In this case, base represents the poorly treated soldiers. ● In the poem, the well of life of a major is compared to the horrific life of a World War I soldier.

Satire • This is a satirical poem. Satire is the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. • In this poem the Major is being ridiculed.

Poem- line by line

'If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base, ' In the first line, Siegfried Sassoon, describes his view of a Major in world war 1. He sees them as fierce and bald. By short of breath, he means that they are unfit. In the second line, he says that the Majors he has described are the kind of people who would stay at the base.

Scarlet Major

'And speed glum heroes up the line to death. ' The Majors described by the poet send soldiers to the trenches where they would die. He calls the soldiers glum heroes. The soldiers were carelessly sent to war like they were unwanted but they were heroes because they fought for their country.

'You’d see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, ' Siegfried Sassoon says that if he were a Major he would have a "puffy petulant face" and be "guzzling and gulping in the best hotel" this means that he would have a puffy childish face and be eating as much as he wants in the best hotel.

‘Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap’ I’d say—‘I used to know his father well. ’’ The poet says that he would read the roll of honour (list of the dead soldiers) but he wouldn’t show remorse for the dead soldiers. He would say ‘Poor young chap’ (Chap shows how young he is)but he doesn’t really care and he’d say ‘I used to know his father well. ’

‘Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap. ’ In this line, the poet uses the word ‘scrap’ when he is talking about a war. A scrap would be a fight but wouldn’t be a serious fight. This shows that the Majors in World War I didn't have the horrifying experience of the soldiers.

And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die — in bed. If he was a major Siegfried Sassoon would toddle safely home. The word toddle shows that the poet though of majors as fat. And by saying safely, he is showing how they were more well off than soldiers. And mentioning that he would die in bed, he is showing that majors would have a peaceful death unharmed by war.

Theme The theme is war. ‘And youth stone dead’

Tone The overall tone is negative. ‘poor young chap’.