A Marxist Analysis of Edward Thomas's "As the Team's Head Brass" Amelia Coen 12th Grade

Marxist ideology states that due to the capitalist regime and enforced social structure within society, complete autonomy is non-existent; Members of society therefore assimilate to the belief that all members of society, including the proletariat, have freedom despite truly being controlled by societies' attitudes and values imposed by the ruling class at the top of the social hierarchy. Thomas’s ‘As the Teams Head Brass’ is compatible with this example of Marxist ideology in a somewhat unconventional sense of the exploitation of the soldiers in WW1. Despite the fact that this is a war poem, it may be perceived as presenting Marxist arguments through exploitation, illustrated through the principle themes of the poem including pro-creation, loss and lack of sentimentality. The poem may also be a critique of society, commenting on the extent to which capitalism and cultural materialism influenced the war.

Some readers may consider this a Marxist poem through Thomas’s focus on the vulnerability of the soldiers who have left England to fight, thus allowing them to be exploited by society. Here Thomas illustrates the unprepared nature of the soldiers through his choice of ambiguous phrases, “the same interval” and “if we could see...