Summary
In "Suicide in the Trenches," Sassoon emphasizes the psychological damage warfare can cause. The speaker recounts knowing a simple soldier boy whose naivety caused him to grin at life. The boy slept soundly at night and rose early and happy in the morning.
But the young soldier cannot cope with the conditions of the winter trenches. He is cowed and glum as a result of the exploding bombs and shells, the lice infestation, and the lack of comforts such as rum. The soldier puts a bullet through his head and is never spoken of again.
In the last stanza, the speaker calls out the smug-faced crowds whose eyes are alight with a patriotic fire. These crowds who cheer soldiers on know nothing about the true conditions of war. The speaker disdainfully tells them to sneak home and pray they'll never know of war's hell, which consumes youth and laughter.
Analysis
In "Suicide in the Trenches," Sassoon demonstrates that the experiences of warfare can completely transform a person and destroy their mental stability. The poet's frustration and anger are palpable throughout the poem, reflecting the entire collection's aim of addressing the noble and patriotic myths concerning the war.
The poem is composed of three quatrains written in iambic tetrameter, with the exception of the line "No one spoke of him again" (Line 8). The rhyme scheme is AABB CCDD EEFF. The regularity of the poem's formal qualities creates an eerie and orderly sense of marching forward, contrasting the violent death of the soldier. The general public wishes to view mentally disturbed soldiers like the one in the poem as anomalies, and for the war effort to march on without a hitch.
In the first stanza, the speaker recounts having known a "simple soldier boy" (Line 1). The sibilance in this line contributes to the boy's sense of ease in the world. This boy is "simple" in that he represents thousands of other young men. By some estimates, 250,000 underage boys fought in World War I, answering the campaign for volunteers. The term "soldier boy" carries a certain sadness, as it evokes the destruction of youth, innocence, and possibility.
The young soldier in the poem used to grin at life "in empty joy," suggesting naivety (Line 2). Perhaps he had not experienced enough in his life to feel real joy, but his youthful innocence allowed him to sleep "soundly through the lonesome dark" (Line 3). There is a melancholy tone (emphasized by the characterization of the night as lonesome) of which the young boy is unaware. He rises early in the morning with cheerfulness as he whistles with the lark, a songbird that sings in the early morning.
During World War One, propaganda was used on a global scale. Enemies were depicted as barbaric, and men were pressured to enlist. Recruitment propaganda sold a story of fighting for the greater good, worthwhile sacrifice, patriotism, duty, and family pride. "Suicide in the Trenches" skips the soldier's recruitment, but all of this propaganda is implied, particularly in the final stanza.
From the soldier sleeping soundly through the night and rising cheerfully in the morning in the first stanza, the second stanza drops the reader directly into the terrible conditions of war. This pivot quickly increases the poem's tension. Removed from his peaceful existence and placed in winter trenches, the young soldier is described as "cowed and glum" (Line 5). This shows the way his will has been broken; his cheerful nature is gone.
The conditions in the trenches are outlined in the second stanza: "crumps and lice and lack of rum" (Line 6). Crumps refer to a loud thudding sound, especially one made by an exploding bomb or shell. This is an example of onomatopoeia, in which the word's formation indicates an actual sound. Many soldiers suffered from what was called shell shock, in which ongoing bombardment in the trenches led to the development of intense symptoms of stress. Shell shock is now characterized as a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Though the phrase "crumps and lice and lack of rum" does not outline the terror and horrendous consequences of war in the same jarring way that other works by Sassoon do, it serves to increase the shock of the following line. Unable to cope with these conditions in the trenches, the young soldier "[puts] a bullet through his brain" (Line 7). It is implied that the sounds, smells, and death all around him are too overwhelming, and, gripped by depression, the soldier shoots himself in the head.
The pressures of the war were such that psychological and emotional stress were often seen as indicating weak moral character and treason. Some soldiers who experienced shell shock were put on trial, and some were even executed for military crimes. In the poem, the young soldier who commits suicide is quickly forgotten. The line "No one spoke of him again" is the only one in the poem to stray from the fixed meter (Line 8). The syllabic emphasis falls on the word "no," and the line is missing a syllable in comparison to the rest of the poem's lines. This reflects the soldier's abrupt absence.
In the final stanza, the speaker personally addresses people on the home front. Imitating the way that war propaganda used personal pronouns, this address is made in the second-person. The speaker's contempt is made clear when he refers to those he is addressing as "You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye" (Line 9). The smugness of the crowds likely comes from a false faith in guaranteed victory constructed by propaganda. Their "kindling eye" shows that they are alight with patriotism and an eagerness for violence.
Sassoon criticizes the public back home because they do not actually know what the violence of war is. They "cheer when soldier lads march by," but the strong patriotic sense of unity does not include understanding the true conditions of war on the front lines (Line 10). The speaker bitterly advises people to "Sneak home and pray you'll never know / The hell where youth and laughter go" (Lines 11-12). Sassoon's anger is directed towards the public in this poem because he feels that they are too eager to believe what they are told. The public believes that when the war is won, everything will go back to normal, but this is never going to be possible for the young soldiers who sacrificed themselves and their innocence on the battlefield.
