Attack by Siegfried Sassoon

At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun
In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun,
Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud
The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one,
Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.
The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed
With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,
Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.
Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,
They leave their trenches, going over the top,
While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,
And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,
Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop! 

Siegfried Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a vainglorious war.

Attack is a short poem of 13 lines and only one stanza written in speech rhythm with some rhyme. The detach structure of the poem represents mankind losing direction and righteousness inn life in times of war. The poet adopt a calm yet emotional tone on serious and agonising subject as shown by the words: make it stop. The poem begins with time and ends with reference to Jesus, who western time is centred around. This implies end of humanity. The caesura in the barrage roars and lifts. Contrasts with the enjambment that is found throughout the poem.

The language used creates effectives images in the poem. The opening lines of Attack describe the new day emerging as shown by the line: at dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun. The ridge, however, is personified as having a living presence and no specific shape, with the use of words emerges and massed The sun is described as being almost inactive and personification is use again, as the word glowering suggests that nature is both disapproving and antagonistic. The word smouldering portrays a vivid images of the sun being covered by the infected smoke, almost giving a literal meaning as to look at what human action has done to nature. Sassoon uses more personification when describing the slope- scarred evokes a physical visualization and the sense of human danger. The poet also use color imagery like wild purple, dun, grey. The poem start by presenting brighter colors such as purple and dun, as the poem progresses duller colors are presented such as grey and blank, representing how young men were keen to go to war to represent their country but realize the actual terror of it later.

One major technique that the author uses in order to convey of the horror of the battlefield and what it seemed to be like to be in an attack is literal and figurative imageries. Examples of literal images are "the ridge emerges", "bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear", "lines of grey, muttering faces". The poet uses very striking diction that makes the poem sounds more uncomfortable, for example, "scarred slope". The color of the atmosphere is described as dun and wild purple which accentuates on the menacing atmosphere of the setting. The verbs at the beginning of the poem are very significant as they seem to be particularly strong in this poem, like the description of the tank "creep and topple" over the ridge, the barrage that "roars and lifts" or the men who "jostle and climb to", etc. On the other hand, the poet also uses a lot of figurative images. These figurative images include: "time ticks blank and busy on their wrists", "and hope, with furtive eyes, ..., flounders in mud", etc. These images help to personify and emphasize the meaning of the poem, for example, in line 11:

"While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists"

  

Sassoon uses more personification when describing the slope-'scarred' evokes a physical visualisation and the sense of human danger. The verb 'creep' is interesting, a personification that captures the tentativeness slowness of the 'tanks' moving towards the wire which slows down the tone and builds up the tension considering the verb 'creep.' Sassoon used another verb: 'roars' which is in obvious contrast to 'creep' conveying intense violence.

Siegfried Sassoon's use of alliteration in line seven-'and' emphasises the weight of the men's kit. The weight is also symbolic of the soldiers oppressive fear, and in the next line (line eight), in this landscape only now the men are mentioned, as though they are in an alien territory.

In conclusion, the author of the poem Attack describes the life at the trenches in times of war. He adopts a calm and emotional tone on serious and agonising subject as these one. Sassoon describes what he had lived as a soldier, that is why his poem has so many emotions: he was there.