Repression of War Experience

Personification in Siegfried Sassoons Repression of struggle Experience After fighttime, soldiers faecal matter suffer from non except physical injuries, but from psychological wrongfulness as well. They become victims of PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which, according to Medicinenet. com, is an emotional illness that develops as a run of a terribly f indemnifyening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience. Considering the horrors that these soldiers ar witnesses to, it is no wonder that PTSD give notice overcome them.In Siegfried Sassoons poesy, Repression of War Experience, Sassoon uses incarnation to emphasize the psychological damage sustained by soldiers after war. In the first two falls of the poem, Sassoon starts off by painting a quite an dismal picture. He begins lighting sackdles and pauses to watch a moth, which he thus describes to the reader. He finds it ridiculous that it flies toward the spatedle even though its headed right fo r the cauterize and will residue up dying. He expresses this thought by commenting on, What silly beggars they are to blunder in, /And scorch their wings with glory, liquid brand (lines 2-3).Of course, moths are not beggars they are not poor citizens, but Sassoon uses prosopopoeia to further develop the moths behavior. These lines imply that moths beg for their deaths by flying toward the flame of the female genitalsdle, just as soldiers beg for their deaths by signing up to fight. Moths are drawn to the flame of a candle because of the light, but do not realize that they are headed towards their death. possibly soldiers are attracted to war in the aforesaid(prenominal) waythey are tempted by the false promise of glory and remark for their countrybut unknowingly march toward their own deaths as well.Sassoon cogitate both moth and man by making such comparisons, and suggesting that both end up embracing death. Further along in the poem, and this is a real short part of the poem, indeed, Sassoon comments on the rain and asks, Why wont it rain? (line 12). Without monition as to why he does so, Sassoon changes topic and says, Books what a jolly familiarity they are, /Standing so quiet and patient on their shelves (lines 16-17). One can guess as to why he suddenly goes off somewhat bookshe cannot bear any re perspicacityers of war, and desperately tries to keep his mind industrious with the things he sees around him.The mentioning of books being a jolly company indicates that Sassoon is unaccompanied and perchance has just a few objects with him in his room. It is strange to care for books as though they are people or companions, as if they can carry a conversation. Sassoon then develops this unusual view further by commenting on how the books are Dressed in purblind brown, and black, and white, and green (line 18). Perhaps this is another accidental reference to war because it hints at the soldiers camouflage-colored uniforms of green and dim b rown but one cannot be sure.In regard to the books standing so quiet and patient it is true that books can stand on their own, perhaps on a shelf or a desk, but how can they be patient? Books cannot feel anything, nor can they have opinions. This personification suggests that Sassoons mind is slowly moving away from clear thought and logic, and that war has negatively affected his mental state. Sassoon continues comparing normal everyday sights to living things. He writes that in the breathless air outside the house, /The garden waits for something that delays (lines 26-27). The comment of the breathless air is again, strange.Air cannot be breathless because it does not occur. Only people and animals breathe air, and without it, they will die within minutes. However, during a war, poison gas is a good deal released into the sky, making it impossible for soldiers to breathe properly. Such attacks were especially common in World War I, which Sassoon fought in from 1914 to the end o f the war in 1918. His line was most likely a reference to the poison-filled air in which no one could breathe. In the last few lines of the poem, Sassoon has failed to completely ignore thoughts of war thus far, for he says that Youd never think there was a blooming(a) war going on (line 34). He abandons all attempts to repress his memories and continues his soliloquy about Those whispering poor boys (line 37). Obviously, guns cannot speak, and strangely, Sassoon writes that they whisper rather than yell or blazon out.The last mentioned would be more sensible, considering that there are no quiet gun attacks. However, the description of the hushed weapons suggests (even further) that Sassoon is haunted by his memories, perhaps every night, and can never fully forget them. He himself seems to lose control of ill-favoured thoughts (mentioned in line 7, in which Sassoon pities those oldiers who cannot repress their memories) and again, seems unable to distract himself with what he sees around him, as he had done throughout the entire poem until this point. He makes the exclamation of O Christ, I want to go out, /And resound at them to snap (lines 37-38). At this point, Sassoon has indeed lost control of himself and wants to scream at the guns to stop firing. Guns do not fire by themselves, nor can they fight a war without soldiers pointing the gunsSassoon would have to screech at the soldiers to stop fightingbut this personification of the weapons further emphasize the psychological damage from which he suffers.Personification is a major literary element in Repression of War Experience, and it lets the reader empathise just how psychologically wounded Sassoon has become. His comparisons range from moths to books to guns, and he jumps from subject to subject in order to show Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His respective(a) personified objects are scattered throughout the poem, and they allow the reader to truly understand how he has suffered from his exp erience at war.