The Last Meeting by Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Sassoon's poem The Last Meeting is a farewell to his friend David Thomas.

• "I will go up the hill once more" - Sassoon uses personal pronouns to describe his last journey into battle.
• "To find the face of him that I have lost" - Sassoon uses metaphor to describe how he searches for his friend and his desire to see him once again.
• "Strong, grizzled men" - The adjectives show the affects the war has had on the soldiers appearance.
• "I heard... I looked" - The repeated use of verbs shows how he is constantly doing something to take his mind off the brutality they have experienced.
• "But he will loom above me like a tree" - Sassoon uses similes to show how he hopes David Thomas will always be with him.
• "...planks and props and beams;" - Sassoon uses a list to represent how on going the war is.
• " I sought the woods that I had known" - Sassoon wants his old life to return with David Thomas before the war so frantically searches his mind for his old life.
• "He was beside me now" - Sassoon uses personal pronouns to show his hopes that David Thomas is watching over him like a guardian.
• "My spirit has more eyes" - Sassoon feels that David Thomas' spirit is forever there with him and is always watching because he has more eyes now.
• "My body is the magic of the world" - Sassoon uses metaphor to show the naivety and vulnerability of thousands of soldiers whilst showing the excitement of young people to join the fight because they think it is an adventure that will soon be over.
• "The innocence that shrivels me" - represents their youth
• "Pouring and splashing downward" - Sassoon uses onomatopoeia to show that they are never surrounded by quite because there is always noise.
• "I know that he is lost among the stars" - The personal pronouns show how emotional Sassoon feels about the loss of his friend and the uncertainty of a physical place for David Thomas means he hopes he is in heaven.
• "And youth, that dying, touched my lips" - The imagery shows the emotions that have been stirred within him bout the loss of his dearest friend. 

Siegfried Sassoon Soldiers Declaration

Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen met at Craiglockhart Hospital where they had both been admitted with shell shock.

I think Sassoon is brave to make a stand against the war knowing the consequences he may face. He wants to make a difference although he is not naïve to think that he will end the war. Sassoon wants to know the reasons behind the war and is not influenced by what the government have told them. He seems to have his own mind and wants to make a change for the benefit of other soldiers.
In Sassoon's Soldiers Declaration, he uses emotive language and his opinion to persuade.

"I am a soldier, convinced I am acting on behalf of soldiers" - Siegfried Sassoon is an officer during the war, but sees himself as a soldier. He is not big-headed about his role and is acting as a voice for a collective. There is no solid information used in the declaration, it is based on his opinions, however, he says, "I have seen", which is almost fact because no one at home has witnessed the same brutality as him or his fellow soldiers. Sassoon repeats the word "suffering", which represents the on going suffering that the men are experiencing.
He also uses alliteration, "as an act". Sassoon is telling us why he is making a stand. "Callous compliancy" shows the harsh effects of the war, as Sassoon feels people have become complacent about the war, with no hope of an ending in sight.
Throughout the declaration Sassoon uses personal pronouns, he is acting as a voice for his fellow soldiers but continues to use "I".

Sassoon describes the feelings of many men in his declaration by using emotive and persuasive language to show the people at home the real conditions. When Sassoon says, " I am a soldier, convinced I am acting on behalf of soldiers", we understand his determination to find an  answer not only for himself but for his fellow soldiers who are risking so much. Although Sassoon is an officer, he still sees himself as a normal soldiers fighting for the same cause.