Glory to Women - Analysis
Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “Glory to
Women” composed in 1917, during World War I, is an ironic and sarcastic poem, as it complains about blinded some British women were the honour and glory of soldiers fighting in the war, only to conveniently forget them upon death or disfigurement. This poem is the first “anti – women” literature, about how men resented the fact that they had to fight in the war, while the women could stay at home and pretend that everything would be the same as it always had been. Men who fought and women who had not idea of the horror of war could not relate to one another as they had before.
Few women were aware of the hardships and pain that all men at war have to go through, instead seeing only the fame that they believe results afterwards.
Siegfried Sassoon, throughout this poem speaks as a soldier who has experienced sufferings of war to all women in general, who keep the home fires burning -
fantasising about their husbands’, sons’, fathers’, and any other men in their lives for their bravery in participating in the war.
“Glory to Women” has no stanzas, it is a sonnet. There are rhyming words at the end of each of the lines, which gives the poem rhythm and links lines Sassoon wishes to emphasis such as leave/believe; place/disgrace; delight/fight blood/mud; and run/son. The poem starts off a aggressively with “YOU love us when we’re heroes”. This creates the feeling of an accusation conveyed with the use of the direct speech of a capitalised “YOU”, which contrasts to lower case “us”; the voice of a soldier, referring to himself and comrades. “When we’re heroes” is about women who love soldiers that are decorated heroes. When the men are at home the women praise their heroic deeds, but when they are away fighting in the war, these same women conventionally forget their heroes when faced with the reality of
daily domestic life.
The second line “Wounded in a mentionable place” conveys two meanings. Many soldiers believe that a woman only want a man, who is not disabled in anyway. Many soldiers thought losing an arm or a leg would not be desirable, because they are now less than a real man. Soldiers are recognised and praised as heroes and heroes are not seen to be crippled, although this can also be a psychological wound. Many soldiers had psychological damage of shell shock, and the horrors they had seen and were involved in. Many of the soldiers had a hard time recognising all the killing and men dying who did not really deserve to die they were fighting to show how patriotic they were.
Sassoon uses a range of language techniques and strong imagery to emphasize the horror of war. The use of alliteration in lines ten and eleven give gruesome pictures of war “Hell’s last horror, Trampling the terrible corpses, Blind with blood”. The aspirate ‘h’ sounds recalls the heavy breath of the soldiers running, the harsher ‘t’ sound represents the crushing of the bones from the deceased bones of their former comrades underfoot, while the plosive ‘b’s almost copies the projection of blood itself. This is done because the poet wants the reader to have a clear mental image of the horrible results of war. Using blood and corpses to paint images has a strong effect on stressing the brutality of war.
Glory of Women conveys the message and describes women and their actions, thoughts, and feelings about men at war.
The last line of Glory to Women is quite confronting and shocking “While you are knitting socks… His face is trodden deeper in mud”. This is a disturbing contrast, while women are concerning themselves with their domestic life - at home - knitting socks for their loved ones, not knowing their “hero” is already dead. Men – loved ones are dead, their heads being trampled on, sinking deeper into the mud is horrifying. Then again their bodies no longer discernible; they become just another dead body on a large field of dead bodies.
Siegfried Sassoon displays his feelings towards war very strongly in this poem. His tone is very obviously bitter and angry that women do not realise all the difficulties men have to endure to survive war. He resents how no one felt the need to change their opinion and educate them about war. This leads to the
theme being how women are unaware of the harsh realities of war. Because of this, Sassoon wrote this poem both to teach and to mock women for their ignorance. This is also reflected in the title of the poem, Glory of Women, which is greatly significant because although glory generally refers to someone or something’s reason for pride, the poet uses this word and twists its meaning to indicate sarcasm and the irony.
The mood of this poem is bitter, as it is trying to get the message through about how women were portrayed during the war. The poet tried to put his feelings into the poem and spread his opinions through it. After reading “Glory to Women” I understand the message that Sassoon was trying to achieve because he was so strongly set against war, which was conveyed through the irony. It also makes the reader thoughtful, because Sassoon’s message in this poem is very stereotypical, stating that all women think in one way, but that was not always true. I think this poem is very effective because it changes its tone, language and techniques between lines, from the positive to negative emotions and thoughts that Siegfried was demonstrating, from speaking of the good opinions women have of war, to how wrong women are in not realising how terrible war really is.
Women” composed in 1917, during World War I, is an ironic and sarcastic poem, as it complains about blinded some British women were the honour and glory of soldiers fighting in the war, only to conveniently forget them upon death or disfigurement. This poem is the first “anti – women” literature, about how men resented the fact that they had to fight in the war, while the women could stay at home and pretend that everything would be the same as it always had been. Men who fought and women who had not idea of the horror of war could not relate to one another as they had before.
Few women were aware of the hardships and pain that all men at war have to go through, instead seeing only the fame that they believe results afterwards.
Siegfried Sassoon, throughout this poem speaks as a soldier who has experienced sufferings of war to all women in general, who keep the home fires burning -
fantasising about their husbands’, sons’, fathers’, and any other men in their lives for their bravery in participating in the war.
“Glory to Women” has no stanzas, it is a sonnet. There are rhyming words at the end of each of the lines, which gives the poem rhythm and links lines Sassoon wishes to emphasis such as leave/believe; place/disgrace; delight/fight blood/mud; and run/son. The poem starts off a aggressively with “YOU love us when we’re heroes”. This creates the feeling of an accusation conveyed with the use of the direct speech of a capitalised “YOU”, which contrasts to lower case “us”; the voice of a soldier, referring to himself and comrades. “When we’re heroes” is about women who love soldiers that are decorated heroes. When the men are at home the women praise their heroic deeds, but when they are away fighting in the war, these same women conventionally forget their heroes when faced with the reality of
daily domestic life.
The second line “Wounded in a mentionable place” conveys two meanings. Many soldiers believe that a woman only want a man, who is not disabled in anyway. Many soldiers thought losing an arm or a leg would not be desirable, because they are now less than a real man. Soldiers are recognised and praised as heroes and heroes are not seen to be crippled, although this can also be a psychological wound. Many soldiers had psychological damage of shell shock, and the horrors they had seen and were involved in. Many of the soldiers had a hard time recognising all the killing and men dying who did not really deserve to die they were fighting to show how patriotic they were.
Sassoon uses a range of language techniques and strong imagery to emphasize the horror of war. The use of alliteration in lines ten and eleven give gruesome pictures of war “Hell’s last horror, Trampling the terrible corpses, Blind with blood”. The aspirate ‘h’ sounds recalls the heavy breath of the soldiers running, the harsher ‘t’ sound represents the crushing of the bones from the deceased bones of their former comrades underfoot, while the plosive ‘b’s almost copies the projection of blood itself. This is done because the poet wants the reader to have a clear mental image of the horrible results of war. Using blood and corpses to paint images has a strong effect on stressing the brutality of war.
Glory of Women conveys the message and describes women and their actions, thoughts, and feelings about men at war.
The last line of Glory to Women is quite confronting and shocking “While you are knitting socks… His face is trodden deeper in mud”. This is a disturbing contrast, while women are concerning themselves with their domestic life - at home - knitting socks for their loved ones, not knowing their “hero” is already dead. Men – loved ones are dead, their heads being trampled on, sinking deeper into the mud is horrifying. Then again their bodies no longer discernible; they become just another dead body on a large field of dead bodies.
Siegfried Sassoon displays his feelings towards war very strongly in this poem. His tone is very obviously bitter and angry that women do not realise all the difficulties men have to endure to survive war. He resents how no one felt the need to change their opinion and educate them about war. This leads to the
theme being how women are unaware of the harsh realities of war. Because of this, Sassoon wrote this poem both to teach and to mock women for their ignorance. This is also reflected in the title of the poem, Glory of Women, which is greatly significant because although glory generally refers to someone or something’s reason for pride, the poet uses this word and twists its meaning to indicate sarcasm and the irony.
The mood of this poem is bitter, as it is trying to get the message through about how women were portrayed during the war. The poet tried to put his feelings into the poem and spread his opinions through it. After reading “Glory to Women” I understand the message that Sassoon was trying to achieve because he was so strongly set against war, which was conveyed through the irony. It also makes the reader thoughtful, because Sassoon’s message in this poem is very stereotypical, stating that all women think in one way, but that was not always true. I think this poem is very effective because it changes its tone, language and techniques between lines, from the positive to negative emotions and thoughts that Siegfried was demonstrating, from speaking of the good opinions women have of war, to how wrong women are in not realising how terrible war really is.
