What exactly is sarcasm? Sarcasm is the “use of irony to
mock or convey contempt”. In the poem “Base Details” by Siegfried Sassoon, the
speaker uses a sarcastic tone to reveal the poem’s main idea that the Majors’ indifference
leads their troops to death. In the poem, the speaker describes himself as if he
were a Major. The narrator believes that he would have a “puffy, petulant face”
and would spend his time “guzzling and gulping in the best hotel”. Also, the
narrator believes that as the Major’s read the Roll of Honor, they would make comments
like “Poor young chap” and “Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap”, thus
revealing that the officers do not seem concerned about the loss of soldiers’
lives but more about their own lives.
Along with sarcasm, the rhyme scheme of this poem also helped
convey contempt. This poem followed an ABABCDCDEE rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme
helps express the main points of the poem. One of these points being that the
speaker sees the irony in the fact that the officers send the soldiers to die
in battle, but they themselves stay behind the lines and focus on pampering
themselves with extravagance. The narrator uses his diction to convey this
contempt. The speaker pictures the majors as puffy-faced because he pictures
them “guzzling and gulping”, which implies that they are fat and out of shape
from eating and drinking too much. He also refers to them as “petulant”, a word
often used to describe a spoiled child. Meanwhile, the soldiers are described
as “glum heroes”, which allude to the soldier’s sadness because of the
situation they were in. The speaker also criticizes the Majors by portraying
them as uncaring when they hear the news of the dead soldiers. They refer to
the battle in which many soldiers die as “a scrap”, and express concern only
because they knew the father.
The speaker’s main goal was to show the Majors for their
true selves and emphasize the mistreatment that was occurring to the soldiers.
By doing this, the reader can understand the speaker’s attitude towards war. The
speaker was expressing sentiment for anti-war because he felt as though it was wrong
to have some people who participated in war benefit at the expense of the others
who also participated in war. Sassoon gets this idea across by using sarcasm and the rhyme scheme of this poem.
Loved your entry Bethany. As usual, it was clear and got straight to the point, which made your entry an easy, entertaining read. I loved the sarcasm example you used. It fit perfectly with this soldiers tone of voice or attitude in this poem. Your use of in text quotations were good as well. I used the same ones sort of so I agree! I also liked how you summed everything up at the very end of your entry. It was a great way to bring together all your points. Overall, awesome entry!
ReplyDeleteGreat job opening your argument! You started with sarcasm in your mind and that immediately set up the reader to know what you were going to say about “Base Details”. With that being said your thesis is almost hidden within your introduction which is creative, but it should be easily shown so it would be awesome if you found that balance. Although it showed the extreme thought you put into thinking about what makes up the poem, I feel as though you attacked too many devices and didn’t fully develop an argument on any of them but the points you make within them are clear so that’s a plus! Sarcasm is definitely an often used poetic device, especially in a satirical piece. Well, it is a satirical device more than anything! The bitterness it construes within a piece gives the reader an easy grasp on what the author is really trying to say about their subject while also being a clever implement. I believe you explained author’s purpose of utilizing sarcasm well and so your claims come from a strong basis. On a final note you also took out exact words from the poem to better convey your claims which makes your whole argument all the more strong within itself.
ReplyDeleteHi Bethany!! First and foremost, what I like the most about your blog post is that you address multiple poetic devices that are used in "Base Details". It shows that you had a real good understanding of the poem as a whole along with the messages that Sassoon was trying to convey. Along with your poetic devices, I like how you get straight to the point by identifying and explaining what sarcasm is and how it is used accordingly in this poem. You skipped all the extra wording, like Mrs. Smith says "avoid verbosity" lol I really like/appreciate the fact that you did that, though. Your conclusion is also very clear, concise and definitely supports all of the claims that you made throughout your post. I also believe that you did a very good job with using textual evidence to support your claims as well, and you did it with a nice flow. This was a very good analysis of "Base Details" and you did a lovely job!
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