English Lit

English Lit

1. Loss/Grief

   • The Deserter by Winifred Letts resembles the loss of a women's son who has deserted the war - "an English bullet in his heart"
     • In Birdsong, Stephen pulls a gun on one of his men to keep him going - "he was surprised at his own brutality"
     • Journey's End - "I'd have you shot - for deserting". This shows how those higher in authority might be ignorant to how people feel
     • Many saw the men as instruments of war - in Regeneration, Sassoon is representing how many men feel and they just ignore it and want him courtmartialled
       • Don't understand the psychological impact that it has - "what do you do when the doctor breaks down?"
   • Education by P. Barrington is an angry poem at authority over the loss of the soldiers - "the blood is slipping, dripping one by one"
     • Resembles the anger that Sassoon feels in Regeneration
     • Supports the image of women at home and the ignorance of war that Sassoon feels
       • Prior is envious of Sarah Lumb and resents her being able to continue with her life - "he both envied and despised her"
   • Easter Monday by Eleanor Farjeon talks about receiving a letter and then the soldier dies - "there are three letters that you will not get"
     • Links to the letter writing in Birdsong between the soldiers and their families and the loss and grief that was faced
   • To My Brother by Vera Brittain represents her brother dying - "your battle wounds are scars upon my heart"
     • Links to 'Who's for the game" and the ignorance of war seem by many in WW1 - "grand and tragic show" and "who wants to turn himself in the show?"
     • Regeneration - he needed her ignorance to hide in" - women shielded from the horrors of the war. The people don't understand

2. Ignorance of War

   • Regeneration - "help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority at home ... have not the sufficient imagination to realise"
     • Sassoon insulting those at home - links to Birdsong when Weir visits his family - "don't get yourself upset. Everyone's doing their bit you know"
       • Birdsong is fictional and designed to be manipulated to replicate the war - the people cannot understand
   • "she is waiting for me - and she doesn't know" - Journey's End link to IOW as both Stanhope and Madge are ignorant to the effects that it is having on them. She doesn't see that war will have changed him
     • The Dancers By Edith Stilwell resembles peoples ignorance to those that are fighting
       • "for those who hourly die for is - we can still dance each night"
   • They really do believe that the whole thing's going to end in one big glorious calvary charge"
     • People at home have a naive perception of the war - compare to Jessie Pope "who's for the game, the biggest that's played" - a woman who doesn't fully understand
     • Link to Birdsong - class distinction has become blurred in the trenches
   • Raleigh is ignorant to the war due to his age - "can't you imagine what I felt?"
     • Show how the war tricked young boys into joining - poems by Jessie Pope "are you, my laddie?"

3. Role of women

   • Women are portrayed as ignorant and of not much significance in the literature
   • Women in Journey's End are barely mentioned other than as objects to entertain the men
   • All of the poetry is written by women who never actually experienced war first hand and some of it is highly romanticized and false
     • THEY WERE NOT THERE!!!
   • In Regeneration, many men fear emasculation by being in the hospital and disappointing the women back home
     • "only Sarah connected him to the jostling crowds" "he both envied and despised her"
       • Sarah has been shielded from the many horrors of war and Prior hates her ignorance"
     • Symbolises the powerlessness the men feel when confronted with war and they don't know how to handle it
   • In Birdsong (war years), men discuss the women like men do. Weir admits - "you know something? I've never been with a woman." as if it's something shameful
     • Stephen takes him to some prostitutes but they both back out as war has affected them
       • Images of the war and women get muddled in the men's heads - source of embarrassment for them as it's not right

4. Brutality of war/trench life

   • Regeneration - "Logan began shovelling soil, flesh and splinters of blackened bone into the bag"
     • "What am I supposed to do with this gobstopper?" - childlike compared to the dark contrast of an eye
     • "Craiglockhart frightened him more than the front had ever done" - contrast to Journey's End and Hibbert who wants to leave
     • trenches are likened to the men's graves
   • "Over the Top by Sybil Bristowe is written from the perspective of a man in a trench before a battle. "Over the Top - to Kingdom come"
   • From a Trench by Maud Anna Bell talks about ignorance and the brutality of war. "are heavy with our dead"
   • Birdsong - "Douglas's blood was pumping from a wound" "a rib or two had collapsed" - links to leadership
     • Brutality affects the men, psychologically
   • Journey's End written from a trench but action is rarely seen until the climax of the play- links to the time of the war of the slow movement. -"'fraid it's broke 'is spine"

5. Relationships

   • Regeneration - the friendship that forms between Sassoon and Owen
     • "One of the paradoxes of war—one of the many—was that this most brutal of conflicts should set up a relationship between officers and men that was… domestic."
   • Stephen and Weir strike up a friendship - Weir is incredibly lonely but gains a friend in admitting this
     • "you know something? I've never been with a woman." - sad irony
   • Osborne is a father figure to Stanhope in Journey's End - "Dear old Uncle. Tuck me up"
     • "the one man I could trust - my best friend"
   • The Deserter - "an English bullet in his heart!" - their own men betrayed them. Agony of war.
   • Relationship between Sarah and Billy ends happily - they admit their love for each other.