Sunday, July 25, 2010
Does it Matter - Siegfried Sassoon
I really liked this poem. Although it is a short poem it is very touching. The poem has a lot of rhyme and repetition which I think makes the poem even more powerful. The repetition of the title "Does it matter?" keeps the reader thinking through the poem DOES IT MATTER? The poem is obviously about some soldier in the war loosing either their legs, their sight, their dreams! The "Does it matter?" in the beginning of each stanza somewhat implies that loosing your legs, sight or dreams are not important. That since you went to war it doesn't matter you lost everything because you fought for your country and that's what you signed up for. What do you think about the poem?
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Well I think that you are right in that regardless of losing many things because of participating in the war it doesn’t matter to most people because you “fought for your country” (14). That everything is justified, even if you “drink and forget and be glad”, or in other words become an alcoholic, because you fought for your nation (12). And that many people try to make you question, “Does it matter?” so that you don’t complain and people do not look down on war but say it was all worth it, even if it wasn’t (1 & 6). I think the last stanza isn’t directly referring to losing your dreams, but rather to the fact that many soldiers became crazy, or mentally damaged, not only physically. I think it describes how war not only made them lose body parts, but also themselves and how “people won’t say that you’re mad;/for they’ll know you’ve fought for your country/ and [won’t]worry a bit” (13-15). And this obviously was wrong because people who fought in the war were so affected by it they needed help, not just booze to forget. This poem is a way of Sassoon of proving how war was awful and filled with pain and misery.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Now that I do re-read it I do see what you mean in the last stanza. As well I notice the very sarcastic tone of the poem when he says "Does it Matter?" of course it matters. The more I read it over the more I realized that the "Does it matter" is such a rhetorical question. Kind of like Do zebra's have stripes? OBVIOUSLY! I still think however, that the author is making a connection to the real dreams that matter to the soldiers at war, because those dreams won't be fulfilled after they have lost their legs or their sight. I believe that the soldiers might be thinking about the war they fought and the dreams lost on the way. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with you the "Does it matter?" is a rhetorical question repeated over and over again (1 & 6). Also I think that Sassoon is trying to show how soldiers were actually questioning that because of the treatment they got, and how ironic it was, because people didn't act as if it mattered. Once again it's Sassoon's way of showing how war has nothing good to offer, instead of gaining all the soldiers lost soemthing, either their legs, sight, or dreams. And also I think that your interpretation of the last sanza is right, because they have lost all their dreams since they cannot, see or walk, or think clearly anymore. I think that's why he refers to them as "dreams from the pit" because they are no longer atainable dreams, they are out of their reach because of what war did to them (11).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that Sassoon was trying to show how soldiers were questioning what they were doing because of the horrible things they experienced during war, but I also think that Sassoon might have been trying to open society's eyes to the horrors that go on during war. Sassoon could be asking the people who are not in war "Does it matter?" I think this because they are sitting at home living their normal lives while soldiers are losing their legs and stuff. I think that Sassoon is asking that because society will treat soldiers as if nothing changed once they come back from war, whether they come back disfigured or traumatized, they will be treated as they were treated before they even left. Sassoon says that "There's such splendid work for the blind; and people will always be kind." (line 7 & 8). I think that he is being a little sarcastic by doing these extremely traumatic events that can occur to soldiers during wars.
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