Sassoon himself was an optimistic, fresh-faced soldier. He was decorated for bravery and awarded a military cross, but soon came to realize the futility of the loss of lives he was witnessing. Like the young soldier in "Suicide in the Trenches," Sassoon found that what he experienced on the front lines did not bear relation to what he had been told before the war and what he had believed wholeheartedly before enlisting. Like the character of the young soldier, Sassoon started out as innocent, naive, and completely unprepared for what lay ahead.
Through Sassoon's poetry, he became a vocal critic of the war. Included in his critiques were the jingoistic marketing of it by the nation's leaders and generals and the way in which the public bought into the propaganda. After penning "A Soldier's Declaration" in 1917, and creating a great deal of dissent within the military, he was admitted to Craiglockhart military hospital for psychiatric treatment.
