1. EAL Nexus resource Base Details Poem analysis Subject: English
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
EAL Nexus resource
Base Details
Poem analysis
Subject:
English
Age groups:
12–14, 15–16
Topic:
World War I: Poetry
Licence information | This resource is free to use for educational purposes ©British Council 2015
Source | This resource was originally developed by Nerissa Lea and has been adapted by EAL Nexus.

2. Base Details by Siegfried Sassoon
If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I’d live with scarlet majors at the Base.
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel.
Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say – ‘I used to know his father well;
Yes we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap’
And when the war is done and youth stone dead;
I’d toddle safely home and die - in bed.

3. If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
The poet is a soldier and thinks the majors are unfit.
The poet is one of the soldiers and describes the majors as unfit due to their lifestyle.
Image source: Bald man ( License under Creative Commons Deed CC0.

4. I’d live with scarlet majors at the Base.
The majors do not live with the soldiers on the front line.
The majors live in better conditions and do not fight alongside their men.
Image source: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: WyrdLight.com

5. And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
The heroes go to the frontline, knowing that they are likely to die there.
When soldiers die, others are sent to replace them.
Image source:
This artistic work created by the United Kingdom Government is in the public domain.

6. You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
The majors are angry because they are losing.
The majors are unfit. When they are angry, their fat faces puff like spoilt children.
Image source:

7. Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel.
The majors eat and drink like animals, at the nice places where they live.
The living conditions of soldiers and the majors are very different.
Image source: Copyright: not applicable

8. Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say- ’I used to know his father well;
Yes we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap’
The majors have nothing to say about the men who have lost their lives.
The majors show no genuine concerns. They only think about sending more soldiers to replace the lost ones.
Image sources
Scroll
Speechless License: Creative Commons Deed CC0. Public Domain.

9. And when the war is done and youth stone dead;
I’d toddle safely home and die - in bed.
The soldiers died young in the war, but the majors will grow old and die at home in comfort.
Sassoon shows his anger in this poem, about how lives can be so different for men serving the same country.
Images
Poppies License: Creative Commons Deed CC0. Public Domain.
Bed