Base Details Essay Questions

How are the majors characterized in the poem?

Majors represent military authorities during World War One in the poem. The physical descriptions of the majors are not flattering: they are bald and short of breath, they have puffy petulant faces, they guzzle and gulp their sustenance, and they have to toddle back home. He is also described as "fierce," which can be understood both as sarcasm (since he's clearly not a fearsome warrior) and as a negative characterization (since he may be fearsome in the sense of being menacing to the soldiers under his command). Though these descriptions apply singularly to the speaker as he imagines himself as a major, they also work to satirize all those in positions of military authority.

Sassoon's anger towards military officials (those that he perceives to be profiting off the deaths of soldiers) shines through clearly in the poem. The last line in particular makes the point that their power will not save the majors from death, in the end.

How does the poem's form embody its content?

"Base Details" is a single stanza of ten lines written in iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEE. Sassoon uses this compact form to concisely communicate his scorn for corrupt military officials. The regular aspects of the poem's form (such as its meter and rhyme scheme) work to create a steady rhythm reminiscent of marching. This gestures toward the discipline and unity necessary for a military unit to succeed, which in turn strengthens the satire at work in the poem. The majors themselves are disconnected from the soldiers they send to battle, and are portrayed as gluttonous, disorganized, and careless individuals. The last couplet provides the poem's ironic twist: power does not prevent the majors from experiencing their own mortality.

Consider the poem "Base Details" within the context of Sassoon's letter "A Soldier's Declaration."

Both the poem and the letter encompass Sassoon's anti-war sentiment which he developed after fighting in France during World War One. It is for this sentiment that Sassoon is remembered most, and his legacy lives within these texts. In the letter, he writes, "I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers." It is not specified whether the speaker in "Base Details" is a soldier, but he, too, speaks on behalf of soldiers as he satirizes the major. The very first statement made in the letter reads, "I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it." This speaks to the corrupted nature of military authority outlined in the poem. For example, the major greedily consumes food and drink in a fancy hotel while soldiers on the front line presumably suffer subpar living conditions and meager rations.