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Dreamers
By Siegfried Sassoon
hard for the general public to fully understand what those in the war go through. In
Siegfried Sassoons poem, Dreamers, the poems structure and rhyme scheme are
vital in portraying the harsh realities of war that normal individuals do not see in their
everyday lives. Sassoons imagery help readers picture what life was like in the
trenches and how it affected the way soldiers responded to certain situations that arose.
Sassoon uses the petrarchan sonnet structure where his first eight lines, often
referred to as the octave, propose an argument and his final six lines, known as the
sestet, respond or answer the arguments question. He does not follow the same rhyme
scheme that a petrarchan sonnet would normally use though. In a traditional petrarchan
scheme follows the a b a b c d c d pattern. This rhyme scheme gives the poem a
Throughout the entire poem Sassoon uses imagery to provide a picture of what
war really was, not what the public had made it up to be. He uses phrases such as
...foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,... (Line 9) and ...ruined trenches, lashed with rain,...
(Line 10) to invoke a sense of fear and rid the brain of previous images of what they
thought trench warfare was. Sassoon had been in these soldiers shoes and he wanted
to reveal what really went on during the war. His experiences influenced many of his
works and upset a lot of people with the way he spoke of the cruelties of the war.
Sassoon did not always use harsh imagery through this poem though, he also
referenced the things the soldiers dreamed of while they were in the trenches. They
think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives. (Line 8) reveals what a soldier would really
want when in the middle of a stressful battle. He wants others to know that they he is
just like everyone else in the world. This line could apply to anyone who works in the
real world, everyone dreams of being in their own home surrounded by the ones they
love. Sassoon wanted his readers to know that soldiers were just regular people who
One of the main themes of this poem is longing for a sense of normalcy.
Sassoon wants to portray soldiers in a light that helps others understand what they truly
long for in life. These soldiers want to have the things that normal people do, ...firelit
homes, clean beds, and wives (line 8). In bringing the lives of soldiers to life Sassoon,
others can see how the war affects a soldier and his family. Every man who leaves his
home to defend his country wants to leave as soon as they can and get back to their
normal life. It may be their job, but they to want to be with the ones they love.
War is a heavy subject to cover, yet Sassoon finds his inspiration in these men
and the experiences he went through with them. He sheds light on a topic that most are
left in the dark about and helps them understand what really happens on the battlefield.
Sassoon makes the reader think about what they truly know about a soldiers life and
how they learn to face the hard circumstances they come up against.