This, like many of Sassoon's poems, concerns the reality
of war and cuts through the myths of heroism and nobility like a hot knife going through
butter. Let us consider how Sassoon achieves presenting war as a colossal waste of life
but also how he shows that the lies of heroism are preserved, and,
indeed, propagated.
Sassoon chooses to base his poem around
one soldier having to deliver the news of a soldier's death to his mother. The mother
begins the poem being overwhelmed by her loss but also by the pride that she expresses
over what her son, Jack, did, and how he met his end bravely. However, in the second
stanza, as the soldier leaves, he reflects that he had told the woman some "gallant
lies" and how these "lies" had made the old woman's eyes shine with "gentle triumph" and
brim "with joy." The last stanza recalls the exact manner of the death of this Jack.
Instead of the glorious death he has shared with the old woman, the soldier reflects how
Jack was, in reality, a "cold-footed, useless swine" who had met an incredibly
inglorious end: being blown to bits as he panicked. However, the greater tragedy is
expressed in the last two lines:
And no one seemed to
care
Except that lonely woman with white
hair.
The horrendous loss of
life is thus highlighted, combined with the indifferent response to the many many
individual tragedies.
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