The Dreamers

Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land, Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows. In the great hour of destiny they stand, Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.

Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives. Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.

I see them in foul dugouts, gnawed by rats, And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain. Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats, And mocked by hopeless longing to regain Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats, And going to the office in the train.
Siegfried Sassoon

Explanation Dreamers is a WWI poem that is about the soldiers rather than the war itself, the message of the poem is that soldiers although viewed as hated killers that kill innocent victims the poem expresses the fact that the soldiers are just like the normal person, the poem also consists of many thoughts and doesnt single out one side or another this shows that is was probably written by a observer of the war or someone that was directly involved in the war itself. The first two lines of the poem sign is a great display of what people make soldiers out the be and what a normal citizen pictures them as Citizens of Deaths gray land a typical view of a solider that is fighting in a war is a bringer of death and some one who does not think twice about killing someone, but it is quickly countered buy telling the reader that although they are deaths soldiers they are not free from deaths fatal grasp them selves and gain nothing from the fighting. The second two lines are a dramatic turn stating that as soldiers the stand starring destiny in the face to face, but is again turned as the thought of the solider is that he isnt think ing about death but is thinking about feuds, jealousies ,and sorrows, not exactly like a normal person but shows that they are like normal people in the sense that they care about what they have done. The Third two lines are like the first talking about what a soldiers is

supposed to do followed but a dramatic line that shows that they as people are not invisible, the first line states the soldiers are supposed to win giving them a heavy burden that rest dead on there shoulders, but is yet again turned around by the fact the writer lets us know that some come out in body bags and some come out with the fatal climax which is that they have to go fight a war that they dont wish to be a part of. The fourth two lines are the second most powerful in the poem, it shows that the soldiers who are fighting are dreamers when the guns begin to fire, and the dream of the things that most people take for grantit like a warm home, clean beds and there beautiful wives which are left at there homes. The next four lines tell of the horrors that the soldiers induer such as trenches that are plagued with rats and that are flooded with rain and are ruined beyond repair, but the first most moving part of the poem appears here Dreaming of things they did with bats and balls, and mocked by hopeless longing to regain, this line in the poem talks about the soldiers longing to do things as the normal people putting the war behind them and living in peace. The last line is talking about how the soldiers want a break and wish they could be working at a desk job. This poem is a big slap in the face for people that mock war and the people in it who wish for the simple things that they once had, being a child whose grandparents where in the war and got a chance to speak with them about it these types of thoughts where the thing that keep them going and the fact the people thought of them as heartless killers that only cared about themselves but in reality they where just people like you and me. And this poem states that fact quite clearly.

HEARING THAT HIS FRIEND WAS COMING BACK FROM THE WAR
IN old days those who went to fight In three years had one year's leave. But in this war the soldiers are never changed; They must go on fighting till they die on the battle-field. I thought of you, so weak and indolent, Hopelessly trying to learn to march and drill. That a young man should ever come home again seemed about as likely as that the sky should fall. Since I got the news that you were coming back, Twice I have mounted to the high hall of your home. I found your brother mending your horse's stall; I found your mother sewing your new clothes. I am half afraid; perhaps it is not true;

Yet I never weary of watching for you on the road. Each day I go out at the City Gate With a flask of wine, lest you should come thirsty. Oh that I could shrink the surface of the World, So that suddenly I might find you standing at my side Explanation
In this poem, the poet describes a contemporary war which was more intense than those in the old days and the hopelessness for soldiers to come back from the war. When the speaker got the news that his friend, who saw service in that war, was coming back, he was then in an emotional conflict between the eagerness to see his friend returning from the war and the worry about if his friend was still alive or not because he understood the cruelty of the war. A possible theme of this poem is the senselessness of the war and the hopelessness for soldiers to escape from that intense war. The purpose of the poem is to convey the speakers contradictory emotions on the fate of his friend on the battlefield. This poem consists of one stanza of eighteen lines. There is a non-structural pattern in the arrangement of the lines. The poet first describes a war which is crueler than the previous (in the first four lines), followed by descriptions of the attributes of his friend (from the fifth line to the eighth line), and then his reactions to news that his friend was coming back from the war (from the ninth line to the end). In the first four lines, only a third person plural pronoun they is found within this few lines. This feature suggests that, perhaps, the speaker was not involved in the war. He acted as an outsider to describe the war. Word choices including 'fight', 'soldiers', 'die' and 'battlefield', have a reference to war. Then, from the fifth line to the eighth line, it begins to have the use of first person singular pronouns. A use of 'I' and 'you', which refer to the speaker and his friend respectively, is found in the fifth line. It shows the involvement of the speaker and his friend in the events beginning from the fifth line. Besides, more modifiers are used there to describe the speaker's friend. Examples are 'weak', 'indolent', 'hopelessly', 'young'. They all show the inexperience and weakness of his friend on the battlefield. From the ninth line on, there are more uses of the third person plural pronoun 'you' and 'your' which shows that most of the statements are related to the speaker's friend. In these lines, the poet described how weak the speakers friend was, then how worried and afraid he therefore was when considering if his friend was alive or not. In this poem, some modal words are used in the presentation of the impossible escape from the war and the likelihood that his friend was still alive. Either high modal words or no modal word are/is found in the statements about the soldiers and the situation of the war. For examples, no modal word is used in But in this war the soldiers are never changed; and high modal word 'must' is used in They must go on fighting till they die on the battlefield. to give high certainty to soldiers losing their life on the battlefield. Noticing the long sentence That a young man should ever come home again seemed about as likely as that the sky should fall., both a simile and high modal word should are used here to exaggerate the returning of his friend as an impossible event and also to add emphasis on the little chance of survival. The speaker understood the impossibility for soldiers to come back from the war even though there was a news that his friend coming back from the war. That is why, when he talked about how he longed to see his friend, low modal words 'could' and 'might' are used in the sentence I could shrink the surface of the world, so that suddenly I might find you standing at my side! Although there is a strong sense of desire in this sentence, the use of low modal words signifies the uncertainty in the speaker's mind of whether he could see his friend

again. A prominent feature in this poem is the association of the characters to animation and inanimation. First, a large number of pronouns, such as the nominative and accusative pronouns I and you as well as the genitive pronoun your, are found throughout the lines. The pronoun 'I', which refers to the speaker, is mostly associated with material and mental verbs. Examples are I thought, I found, I go out and I got the news. The pronoun your, which refers to his friend, is mostly associated with inanimate items instead. Examples are your home, your horses stall and your new clothes. This feature signifies that the speaker is a live person as he is described by words of action and thinking. The association of his friend with a lack of actions, however, means that he might had already died in the war. Second, the use of parallelism I found your brother mending your horse's stall. and I found your mother sewing your new clothes. also emphasizes the association of his friend to a lack of dynamics. It further signifies that his friend might have been dead in the war. Moreover, the speaker described his friend as so weak and indolent and Hopelessly trying to learn to march and drill, this presentation on weakness and incapability of his friend implies that he would likely be dead. The speaker's understanding of the senselessness of the war and the hopelessness for soldiers to escape from the war collides with his strong sense of desire for a friend reunion to generate an emotional conflict. The speaker's strong sense of desire is directly portrayed by the image Twice I have mounted to the high wall of your home. and the sentence I never weary of watching for you on the road. In the line Each day I go to the city gate with a flask of wine ..., 'a flask of wine' was a symbol signifying men-gathering in the Chinese culture, and 'city gate' was the place he could first see his friend. 'A flask of wine' and 'city gate', used with the adjunct 'each day' to state the high frequency, show that his great eagerness for a reunion with his friend always kept his mind. He missed his friend a lot. The alliterative sentence Oh that I could shrink the surface of the world, so that suddenly I might find you standing at my side further expresses an image of great longing and hope. He, however, said I am half afraid; after he got the news that his friend were coming back. He expressed his worry in this sentence because he understood that his friend's back might not be good news. Perhaps, the returning of his friend was due to death. He could not accept that hypothesis by saying perhaps it is not true.. He wanted to escape from this idea. In addition, this poem is a free verse. There is an absence of regular rhyme. Most sentences are long, which is broken into two lines. These features altogether show that the speaker's state of mind is intricate because of the contradictory emotions between the desire for his friend's back and the worry over his friend's fate on the battlefield. This emotional conflict results in a certain degree of optimism and pessimism in the speaker's actions and reactions. In the poem, we can see that his friend's family reacted positively after hearing that his friend was returning from the war as they prepared sorts of things including sewing your new clothes and mending your house so as to welcome the returning of his friend. The speaker, however said I am half afraid; perhaps it is not true. The speaker's reaction sound pessimistic. He, however, still went out at the city gate each day to wait for his friend. We can sense that he still wanted to struggle for a faint hope that his friend might come back lively. This poem is about the senselessness of the war, the hopelessness for soldiers to escape from the war as well as to convey the speaker's contradictory emotion when hearing that a friend was coming back from the war. I think this poem is quite concrete and immediate because the translator uses plain and direct statements to convey its message and meaning. (This poem is translated from Chinese to English.) Although the poem does not tell directly if the speaker's friend was dead or not, many hints such as the use of modal words and the association of his friend to a lack of dynamics are

given to signify that his friend might had already died in the war. Therefore, the readers can easily pick up the theme and understand why the speaker was stuck in an emotional conflict.