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A Working Party
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A Working Party
ethan This poem is about a 'normal', 'average' man who came to the trenches only 3 hours before, and then is killed as he is doing his job of piling sandbags along the parapet. Throughout this poem, Sassoon appeals to the emotions of the reader by trying to create an emotional attachment between the reader and the young man. He explains that "He was a young man, with a meagre wife And two small children in a Midland town; He showed their photographs to all his mates, And they considered him a decent chap Who did his work and hadn't much to say, And always laughed at other people's jokes Because he hadn't any of his own." Sassoon deliberately describes the man clearly and significant detail, which makes the reader realise that this man was just a normal man, probably not unlike the reader, and makes the reader see the pure tragedy when the man dies. "He was just a simple man, who never did anything to hurt anyone" is the response Sassoon wants the reader to have, and feel the injustice of the man's death. Sassoon specifically starts the poem off slowly, describing the men slowly making their way down the trenches, slipping into the mud and squeezing past other soldiers returning from the front line. Then, he ironically rushes the man's death in the last two lines, after the man is thinking how slow time passes. The man's sudden death shocks the reader and shows them how suddenly life can be taken away. "And as he dropped his head the instant split His s...
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