Base Details- Siegfried Sassoon

SUMMARY

Base Details is a satirical poem on the attitudes of the senior officers who live at the
SUMMARY
base. The narrator speaking in first person
in this dramatic monologue, speculates
about the position of a Major, and lists the ways in which he would spend his time,
eating and drinking. The poem is about the way in which those who send the young
soldiers to their deaths are not directly affected by the war themselves and Sassoons
disdain about the issue.It is a first person monologue, but instead of describing reality
it describes a hypothetical imagined situation. The final rhyming couplet provides a
sense of finality and emphasises what is almost a punchline to the satire of the poem.
TONE: sarcastic, bitter, appalled, angry

POETIC TECHNIQUE
Use of direct speech

LINE
poor young chap
I used to know their father
well

Alliteration

guzzling and gulping (also

onomatopoeia)
puffy petulant

Pun

Base Details - Title

scarlet majors (blood, faces,
uniforms)

Irony

EFFECT
Expresses the callousness of
the Majors. Sassoon
undermines the sympathy of
the Major suggesting that his
declaration is shallow and
lacking any real sentiment.
Emphasises the Majors greed
and lack of care about what
happens to the soldiers at the
front while they are eating and
drinking.
Your "detail" was your
assignment in war. The Majors
were detailed to work at base,
but the word "base" can also
have a meaning of low and
dishonourable, which can be
taken as Sassoon's opinion of
the majors
Sassoon sees the irony in the fact
that the officers send the soldiers
to die in battle, but they themselves
stay behind the lines indulging in
luxurious excesses.

Paradox

glum heroes

The imagery is effective as it

allows the reader to vividly
envisage the dishonourable,
greedy majors and the paradoxical
glum heroes

Rhyming couplet

And when the war is done and

youth stone dead;

The rhymed couplet at the end is

reminiscent of Shakepeares use of
couplets to express key ideas, in
this case, Sassoons own
contempt.

Id toddle safely home and diein

bed.

THEMES
Futility of war, anger and bitterness at the
class and rank system

WORDBANK
disdain satirical
speculates callous
belittles anti-war sentiment glorified
justified dishonourable ironic contempt