Reference no: EM133323956

Assignment:

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was decorated for bravery and wounded in the early months of World War I (1914-18). His support for the war shifted dramatically in response to his experience. He became a vocal critic of the war, including its shifting rationale. He questioned the competence of its leadership, both political and military. His poem "They" questions an unthinking leader's support for the war from the point of view of ordinary soldiers tasked with the fighting. The bishop, a religious leader in the Church of England, makes a speech to motivate the troops. What is the thesis of his patriotic message? What does he promise will result from his audience having fought and won? How do the soldiers turn his message into irony? A saying of the time was: "Went to the war with Rupert Brooke and came home with Siegfried Sassoon." How does this poem affirm that saying? (Optional: Compare the critique of leadership implied in Sassoon's poem "They" with that of a war film like Strangelove (1964), Catch 22 (1970); Apocalypse Now (1979), Blackhawk Down (2001), Shooter (2007), or other war film.)