Suicide in the trenches

Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon addresses the problems young men encountered during the First World War. Ironically, society hailed the broken spirits of these boys as heroes, while ignoring the deeper-lying problems that they brought home with them, if indeed they returned at all. In the poem, Sassoon uses the shock of suicide to describe the extent of the horrors suffered during the war. According to most authors, therefore, the poem can be interpreted quite literally, particularly if Sassoon's life experience at the time is taken into account.

Siegfried Sassoon himself was a soldier during the First World War (Minguez). The suffering he encountered, along with his view that the officials in power in his country were doing all in their power to perpetuate the war while oblivious to this suffering, inspired the poet to write satirically on these issues. "Suicide in the Trenches" is one such poem.

The work begins quite simply, with the image of a soldier boy. The poet uses diction to imply his young age: "empty joy" in the second line for example indicates that the boy is not yet mature enough to experience anything as meaningful or truly fulfilling. The fact that he "sleeps soundly" and "whistled early" also indicates a simple and optimistic nature. There is little in the first stanza to prepare for the shock in the second. The words "empty" and "lonesome" are the only indicators that conditions are not quite as desirable as they might be.

The second stanza is a very sudden plunge into negativity, which maximizes the shock effect. The "empty joy" is now replaced by a young soldier in "winter trenches." He is no longer joyful, even in an empty way -- he is afraid ("cowed") and depressed ("glum") by the terrible conditions in the trenches.

According to Lois G. Gordon (57), these conditions were so prevalent that it became a type of "home" for the soldiers. This connects well with the idea of their youth; they are desolate, alone, and in the company of others as desolate and lonely as themselves. It is little wonder that, having to make a home in such conditions, so far removed from homes that were loving and clean, would cause depression. In only a few words, stanza 2 manages to convey the full extent of the horror the young protagonist of the poem suffered. These lines provide an appropriate introduction to the shock that is to follow.

The last lines of this stanza serve as the devastating climax of the poem. The lines each carry an extreme shock value; first because of the soldier's suicide, and second because of the reaction of the people. The solder once had a loving home, friends, and a life. The fact that nobody spoke of him after his death appears to indicate a lack of meaning. It is a senselessly violent reaction to a senseless world. In turn, the society that would have hailed him as a hero had he returned from the war, turns a blind eye and ignore him.

The final stanza then provides the poet's own reaction to both these horrors. He has very little respect for the reaction of the society he described. The "smug-faced" crowds clearly know nothing about the terrible suffering caused by the war. They know a comfortable life, but one that is no less senseless than those of the soldiers who suffer. The stanza appears to indicate two dichotomous types of senselessness: the comfort of society at home and the suffering of soldiers. Indeed, the comfort of the "smug-faced" crowds compare with the "empty joy" of the soldier in his initial manifestation.

There are two other significant dichotomies in the last stanza of Sassoon's poem. The crowds are not as ignorant of the suffering as they appear, which makes their hypocrisy worse, because it is a knowing hypocrisy. Knowing that they are witnessing a procession of suffering rather than triumph in the marching soldiers (or "lads," indicating their youth), the crowds are secretly shameful and "sneak" home. They understand, at least at an intellectual level, the terrible suffering, which is designated as no less than a "hell" in the last line. The hell is juxtaposed with "youth and laughter." The indication is that war ages soldiers prematurely. It steals their youth and murders their laughter, if not robbing them of life itself. The crowd, openly smug but secretly sneaking home, wilfully refuse to acknowledge the pain and senselessness, because this would be to acknowledge their own part in creating the war.

The poem as a whole both juxtaposes and compares general society with the suffering of the soldiers. Society as a whole ignores the suffering of war, but in this very act lies its own suffering. The senseless suicide is ignored only because society is not able to handle the full extent of the horror that led to it. The young solder was filled with "empty joy." In many ways, the joy society feels when their "heroes" are hailed upon their homecoming is similarly empty. It is a joy that understands the suffering that underlies it. When the suffering overtakes the joy, a young man commits suicide. It is to protect their empty joys that those who remain behind will not acknowledge the pain of war.

The structure of the poem as it relates tot its content is also significant. The poem is regularly structured, with the rhyme scheme occurring in pairs. There are four quatrains, all sharing the same rhyme scheme. One is almost presented with a visual representation of a march. This could have two possible interpretations. Firstly, and most obviously, it signifies the military precision of the soldiers who march home. On amore subtle level, it indicates the carefully constructed, but empty, lives and joys of the citizens. It is a structure initially experienced by the young soldier with his empty joys.

The trenches however rob the soldier of his construct and consequently his life. In this

way, the poem's structure serves to both compare and contrast with the content of the poem. It compares with the emptiness of the soldier's initial happiness, as well as the careful structure of society and the fabric that holds it together. On the other hand, it contrasts with the chaos caused by war. Whereas marching soldiers indicate structure and order, the pain that causes the same marching soldiers to take their own lives is utterly chaotic. It is only by ignoring this chaos, as represented by the suicide, that citizens can preserve the structure of their lives.

If one were to interpret the poem somewhat more deeply, one could compare the soldiers to a sacrifice. Those who lose their lives to the chaos of war are sacrifices for the sake of the peace of mind of those who remain behind. It is however a shameful sacrifice. It is one that the crowds are not proud of, but cannot admit to either causing or requiring. These are the many aspects of suffering caused by the war.