Essay on Sassoons Use of Irony in Glory of Women - 626 Words

Sassoons Use of Irony in Glory of Women The role of women during the Great War has been portrayed in many different ways in literature. They are seen as factory workers, nurses who saved soldierà ­s lives, sweethearts and relatives to label just a few. In Glory of Women, Siegfried Sassoon makes ample use of irony within the structure and the content in order to portray his view of the role of the young, working, British woman during this time period. Sassoons use of irony can first be seen in the structure of the poem itself. A superficial glance at the poem shows that it is written in fourteen lines, making it appear as a sonnet. A closer look at the structure, however, shows that Glory of Women is in the†¦show more content†¦The sestet (containing the rhyme scheme efggfe), on the other hand, focuses on Sasssons bitterness over the fact that their admiration is conditional and does not apply for defeated soldiers. In addition to this, he replaces the rhyming couplet used in the English sonnet to summarize the intention of the sonnet with the last three lines of the sestet, marked off by margins that are different from the rest of the poem. Not only does Sassoon make use of irony in order to create this hybrid form of the sonnet, but he also uses it within the content of the poem. For example, the bitter tone of the poem is far from the doting tone commonly seen in the traditional sonnet, which is usually used to write about love. On the contrary, Sassoon depicts these soldiers sweethearts in the workforce as capricious hypocrites with misguided ideation about the heroics of war. Not only do their sympathies lie only with the soldiers who are heroes, who do not retire when hells last horror breaks them, but also when their wounds occur in a mentionable place(Sassoon, 132). They see the war as romantic, full of danger and chivalry when, in reality, it is full of trampling corpses, horror, and blood (Ibid.). There is further irony within the aforementioned last three lines. These lines leave the reader with the final image of a devoted, German soldiers mother knitting by a fire. This image is a stark juxtaposition from the image ofShow MoreRelatedThe Death Of The Trenches904 Words   |  4 PagesWhen it came time to enlist in the war, young men were ecstatic about becoming heroes by the act of serving their country. Although, in reality these men did not know the consequences that came with their life changing decision to go into combat. Sassoon’s â€Å"Suicide in the Trenches† exposes the psychological issues that overwhelmed one soldier in particular, but as the reader, it is clear that the feelings described belong to any soldier that ever felt the wrath of the war. The first stanza paints a