Charles Sorley’s To Germany 173 emulates shock in a very ironic way. The opening line of the poem reveals that flaws exist amongst Britain and Germany. In a crucial time such as WWI, it remained important for soldiers to appear faithful to their country, which also holds true today. By saying that his country, Britain, is blind, he reveals its greediness. The poem then jumps right into the heart of the matter by claiming that Britain’s role was not designed to hurt the Germans. By doing so, Sorley shockingly leads the reader to sympathize for Britain. After showing the countries’ weakness in the opening lines, Sorley flips it around leaving the reader feeling empathetic for Britain. Then the poet delves into the issues of both Germany and Britain; they both have their hopes set on large impressive things and lost sight of what matters: freedom, liberty and justice. By the end of the first stanza it is clear that neither country will surrender, and shockingly, there will be bloodshed in place of negotiation, a rather shocking ideal.
In view of the war, neither country could look at the other with respect. To Britain, Germany was yet another obstacle that laid in the way of glory and vice versa. Only when there is peace will each country be able to look at the other without a veil of destruction. In line 10 of the poem, Sorley uses “new-won eyes” in a very sarcastic way, which leads the reader to infer victory in Britain. While the first line suggests Britain’s weakness, line 10 displays Sorley’s confidence, which ultimately places the two lines ironically and ends with one another. This element alludes to a shock factor above and beyond what any of the parts of the poem could render. By the end of the poem, one should decipher that their blind pursuit for power was actually not a weakness at all, and Sorley does that by using language that virtually suggests Britain will win the war in an ever-so nonchalant manner. The penultimate lines welcome peace as if the war never happened. By this point, the reader saw no glimpse of peace between the two countries. Expectations were thwarted when Sorley used grasping hands as a symbol of peace between the countries. After formulating line after line of hatred, he shocks his readers by suggesting that peace is possible in the blink of eye. After gracing his readers with one line of peace, the last line slams the door on any hope of resolution by ending with dark language: storm, thunder and rain. By the poems end, one may question if there will ever be an end since the poem begins and ends with war. Thus must have left an unforgivable weariness amongst the soldiers in Britain, perhaps even German soldiers.
Siegfried Sassoon’s poem A Working Party portrays shock in a less ironic way, and tends to focus on the novelty and often the brutality of shock. Stanzas one and two set out describing the lack of control and indecisiveness of a soldier who marched up a trench and how utterly frightening his conquest was. The soldier experiences much agony due to his lack of physical awareness. The poet describes the scene so as to make it seem like it stands still in time. He even uses the word “slow” in line 19, which musters a feeling of prolonged death, making it seem even more abusive and painful than it is. Sassoon used long sweeping sentences with semicolons to add to this effect. Later, the soldier admits that time in the military goes by very slowly. The aforesaid struggles provide the first element of novel shock, which will later be incorporated with other scenes in the poem, thus representing the overall novelty of the poem.
Sassoon continues to use the same sentence structure throughout the poem to render the same effect. Stanza two hints at weariness. When one thinks of war one usually conjures the bloodiest image imaginable; Sassoon, however, uses the incapability of man during war, and the lack of heroism elicited as a result, to portray, shockingly, the horrors of war. It isn’t everyday the average human jumps at the opportunity to run up trenches only to lose his way and blindly follow the call of a sergeant. People have a Grecian idea of war. Man sees heroism in war, and Sassoon suggests that, in war, “there is a singular absence of heroic poses” as did Stephen Crane in The Red Badge of Courage. The novelty of shock has not been fleshed out at this point. Thus far, the mere monotony of war and blind following that man deals with has been the subject of brutal shock. Not only does war counter our expectations, it leaves man with no control, with the only option to follow blindly like all of the other enlisted men.
In Stanza three, time slows down even more. A flash grenade detonated, and color takes on a role. The “whiteness of the place”, “glimmering sand-bags” and the “wind posting by” are all lines that contribute to the slow, tainted and also harmonized view of the scene and the soldier. By harmonized, I mean the scene itself and not that there is a certain harmonized beauty regarding war. It is as if there is a crescendo of things happening, still in time, and each event is woven carefully into the poem. Like a song with busy violin and cello parts, where each instrument, taken apart, may seem convoluted, dashy, perhaps even zinging from one note to the next with no destination, but combine the instruments and the destination is clear; there is a point, the song, as a whole, renders what the individual parts are incapable of producing; yes, like a song, Sassoon created this poem. Like a song, it emotionally forces you to favor or condemn the words written. The last line of the third stanza explains it best. Only in war could a shell be calm. In the heat of battle nothing is what it seems—a very frightening thought. With all the events filtering around the soldier, his mind makes him feel as if he is stuck in place; two minutes seems like an hour to the weary, bludgeoned soldier.
The poem revisits the opening lines in the following stanza to suggest that three hours went by, which seemed like an eternity to the soldier, but to the reader, only bullets, grenades and soldiers passed by. The significance is portrayed in stanza five because we find out that the soldier had a life at home, and if something happens to him, he will be missed. Sassoon wants us to realize the struggle each man in war goes through. Each person risks various things, contingent up relationships and status. This poem wants its reader to realize the significance, and the novelty of each person in the war. We are to view them as a part of a greater whole, which is absolutely needed for the whole to function, much like the structure of this poem.
The penultimate stanza provides a glimpse of hope for the soldier, but is instantly stripped away by the last stanza where he dies. By the end, the poem takes on a shocking sense of novelty. Sassoon novelizes every soldier in the war by writing this poem. He realized the significance of each soldier and the novelty of each one. The soldier will forever go down in history, and should never be forgotten by family, friends and country. As I mentioned before, the poem focuses on brutal shock, but as the poem progresses, the novelty of shock is apparent via the use of the soldier’s loved ones.
