Literature Poem
The General by Siegfried Sassoon
,First look title: The title seems to suggest that the poem would be about an army general.
Paraphrase/summary: A General breezily greets a company of his men as they move up
the line towards Arras. His incompetent planning will lead to their deaths.
Line 1: The General appears to be very upbeat, which is the polar opposite of how the
soldiers felt. The General most likely did not spend any time at the front line and did not see
all the death and misery that happened there; so he is not as sad and depressed as his
men.
Line 2-3: The soldiers are dying on the front line and the General does not seem to care; he
doesn't even seem to notice that some men are missing. He seems to have a blasé attitude
about the soldiers; he does not care if they die as long as he does not have to see them die.
He tries to remain unattached to his soldiers because he knows that statistically many will
die and it is easier to not get invested.
Line 4: It is the orders given by the General and his staff that are getting these men killed.
The General, not ever going to the front line, has no real idea what is going on there and he
is giving orders that are not in the soldier's best interest.
Line 5-6: They are returning to the front line; following the orders of incompetent men. These
lines celebrate the heroism of these men; even though they know that it is a futile mission
they still go to the front line to defend their country.
Line 6: Arras is a city in northern France. This city was where the front line was located
throughout much of WWI. The British's attack on the Western Front was known as the Battle
of Arras, which occurred on April 9, 1917.
Line 7: This line is the most bitterly ironic of the poem. Harry and Jack went back to the front
line and were killed all because they followed the General's orders.
People involved: The soldiers (narrator) and the general
Structure: ‘The General’ is written with a distinctive and upbeat rhythm that reflects the
General’s manner and which ironically contrasts with the deaths that result from his
incompetence. This rhythm is anapaestic. An anapaest is a three syllable foot that comprises
of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. For example, the word
‘anapaest’ is, in fact, anapaestic, as we see here: a-na-PAEST. There are four feet in every
line of ‘The General’, meaning that this meter is known as ‘Anapaestic Tetrameter’. The
second line scans, for example, like this: “When we MET / him last WEEK / on our WAY / to
the LINE / ”. It is a strong, striding, strident rhythm, suitable for a poem such as this and
resembling the strides the soldiers would be taking by the command of the general.
Symbolic reading (metaphor): The General is a figurehead for the kind of planning that led
to massive loss of life during the attritional warfare on the Western Front– Arras being a
particularly grim example of the human cost of the war. The Second Battle of Arras was a
, diversionary battle that took place in April-May 1917 and was intended to draw strength
away from a larger French offensive to the south at Aisne. While very successful at first,
gaining ground and employing innovative new tactics, by the end of the offensive such
advantage had been largely lost and over 150,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were
dead. This poem refers to this incident.
Connotation:
• “‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said’”: the breeziness of the General
and his pleasant demeanour is used as a powerful contrast to the consequences of
his actions. Sassoon’s satirical representation of the General is clever: it suggests
(perhaps unfairly) that his upbeat nature somehow reflects a lack of seriousness with
which he takes his charge.
• “most of ’em dead”: the inverted comma signifies the lower-class accent of the
speaker and dropping of the ‘th’ sound. This class voice gives the poem a more
subversive tone. The consequences of the cheery General’s actions are devastating.
• “And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine”: the representatives of the
General staff, those soldiers working administratively at the General’s command,
were often intensely disliked by the average soldier. Here their incompetence
disgusts the soldiers.
• “‘He’s a cheery old card,’ grunted Harry to Jack”: the soldiers see the General as a
‘card’, or ‘character’. Their tone is generous, given the physical effort they are making
(“grunted”).
• The names of the soldiers are common and denote that they are ‘typical’ Tommies.
This is, obviously an emotive move: the irony of the men’s appreciative statement
shortly becomes clear.
• “slogged up to Arras”: The Battle of Arras, April-May 1917
• “But he did for them both by his plan of attack.”: the single, end-stopped line at the
end of the poem is dramatic, and is the pointed lesson of this poem: that the General
and his staff are responsible for the death of the men.
Attitude: Satirical /ironic
Shifts: There is a shift after the second line when the word ‘dead’ turns the cheerful
sounding poem into a dreadful one. There is also a shift from a good mood to a sorrowful
one after the sixth line as the pause causes a dramatic effect before the final line reveals
that the two men were killed.
Title after analysis: It is about a general who was in command during the second battle of
Arras, causing many deaths with his incompetency to make good commands.
Theme(s): War, bad or incompetent authorities, heroism of soldiers
Irony: “But he did for them both by his plan of attack.” Shows the irony of how the soldiers
ended up being killed due to the general’s commands although they spoke of him in an
appreciative tone.
Tone: Subversive and satirical
The General by Siegfried Sassoon
,First look title: The title seems to suggest that the poem would be about an army general.
Paraphrase/summary: A General breezily greets a company of his men as they move up
the line towards Arras. His incompetent planning will lead to their deaths.
Line 1: The General appears to be very upbeat, which is the polar opposite of how the
soldiers felt. The General most likely did not spend any time at the front line and did not see
all the death and misery that happened there; so he is not as sad and depressed as his
men.
Line 2-3: The soldiers are dying on the front line and the General does not seem to care; he
doesn't even seem to notice that some men are missing. He seems to have a blasé attitude
about the soldiers; he does not care if they die as long as he does not have to see them die.
He tries to remain unattached to his soldiers because he knows that statistically many will
die and it is easier to not get invested.
Line 4: It is the orders given by the General and his staff that are getting these men killed.
The General, not ever going to the front line, has no real idea what is going on there and he
is giving orders that are not in the soldier's best interest.
Line 5-6: They are returning to the front line; following the orders of incompetent men. These
lines celebrate the heroism of these men; even though they know that it is a futile mission
they still go to the front line to defend their country.
Line 6: Arras is a city in northern France. This city was where the front line was located
throughout much of WWI. The British's attack on the Western Front was known as the Battle
of Arras, which occurred on April 9, 1917.
Line 7: This line is the most bitterly ironic of the poem. Harry and Jack went back to the front
line and were killed all because they followed the General's orders.
People involved: The soldiers (narrator) and the general
Structure: ‘The General’ is written with a distinctive and upbeat rhythm that reflects the
General’s manner and which ironically contrasts with the deaths that result from his
incompetence. This rhythm is anapaestic. An anapaest is a three syllable foot that comprises
of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. For example, the word
‘anapaest’ is, in fact, anapaestic, as we see here: a-na-PAEST. There are four feet in every
line of ‘The General’, meaning that this meter is known as ‘Anapaestic Tetrameter’. The
second line scans, for example, like this: “When we MET / him last WEEK / on our WAY / to
the LINE / ”. It is a strong, striding, strident rhythm, suitable for a poem such as this and
resembling the strides the soldiers would be taking by the command of the general.
Symbolic reading (metaphor): The General is a figurehead for the kind of planning that led
to massive loss of life during the attritional warfare on the Western Front– Arras being a
particularly grim example of the human cost of the war. The Second Battle of Arras was a
, diversionary battle that took place in April-May 1917 and was intended to draw strength
away from a larger French offensive to the south at Aisne. While very successful at first,
gaining ground and employing innovative new tactics, by the end of the offensive such
advantage had been largely lost and over 150,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were
dead. This poem refers to this incident.
Connotation:
• “‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said’”: the breeziness of the General
and his pleasant demeanour is used as a powerful contrast to the consequences of
his actions. Sassoon’s satirical representation of the General is clever: it suggests
(perhaps unfairly) that his upbeat nature somehow reflects a lack of seriousness with
which he takes his charge.
• “most of ’em dead”: the inverted comma signifies the lower-class accent of the
speaker and dropping of the ‘th’ sound. This class voice gives the poem a more
subversive tone. The consequences of the cheery General’s actions are devastating.
• “And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine”: the representatives of the
General staff, those soldiers working administratively at the General’s command,
were often intensely disliked by the average soldier. Here their incompetence
disgusts the soldiers.
• “‘He’s a cheery old card,’ grunted Harry to Jack”: the soldiers see the General as a
‘card’, or ‘character’. Their tone is generous, given the physical effort they are making
(“grunted”).
• The names of the soldiers are common and denote that they are ‘typical’ Tommies.
This is, obviously an emotive move: the irony of the men’s appreciative statement
shortly becomes clear.
• “slogged up to Arras”: The Battle of Arras, April-May 1917
• “But he did for them both by his plan of attack.”: the single, end-stopped line at the
end of the poem is dramatic, and is the pointed lesson of this poem: that the General
and his staff are responsible for the death of the men.
Attitude: Satirical /ironic
Shifts: There is a shift after the second line when the word ‘dead’ turns the cheerful
sounding poem into a dreadful one. There is also a shift from a good mood to a sorrowful
one after the sixth line as the pause causes a dramatic effect before the final line reveals
that the two men were killed.
Title after analysis: It is about a general who was in command during the second battle of
Arras, causing many deaths with his incompetency to make good commands.
Theme(s): War, bad or incompetent authorities, heroism of soldiers
Irony: “But he did for them both by his plan of attack.” Shows the irony of how the soldiers
ended up being killed due to the general’s commands although they spoke of him in an
appreciative tone.
Tone: Subversive and satirical
