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Study Guide Prepared by Michael
J. Cummings..©
2010
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Type
of Work and Structure
 .......Siegfried
Sassoon's "Dreamers” is a sonnet, a lyric poem with fourteen lines and
a specific rhyme scheme. There are two types of sonnets: Petrarchan and
Shakespearean. “Dreamers” is a Petrarchan sonnet, named after the Italian
poet Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), known in English as Petrarch. A Petrarchan
sonnet consists of an eight-line stanza (called an octave) and a six-line
stanza (called a sestet). The first stanza presents a theme or topic, and
the second stanza develops the theme or topic.
.......Sassoon
observes Petrarch's stanza format but ignores his rhyme scheme. Petrarch's
scheme in the first stanza of his sonnets is abba, abba. In the second
stanza, it is cde, cde (or cdc, cdc; or cde, dce). By contrast, Sassoon's
rhyme scheme in the first stanza is abab, cdcd. In the second stanza it
is efefef.
Topic
......."Dreamers"
is a war poem centering on the thoughts of foot soldiers facing enemy fire
in the First World War (1914-1918).
Publication
.......“Dreamers”
was published in New York in 1918 by E.P. Dutton & Company as part
of “Counter-Attack” and Other Poems, a collection of Sassoon's works.
Source
of Inspiration
.......Sassoon's
own experiences as an English soldier in France during the First World
War inspired the poem. An infantry officer, he fought in brutal trench
warfare, performing heroically under heavy fire. He was twice wounded and
was awarded a medal for rescuing a wounded comrade. Sassoon wrote many
poems about the horror of war and the folly of regarding it as a glorious
enterprise for young men.
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Dreamers
By Siegfried
Sassoon
Soldiers are citizens
of death's gray land,1
Drawing no
dividend from time's to-morrows.2
In the great hour
of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds,
and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action;
they must win 5
Some flaming, fatal
climax with their lives.3
Soldiers are dreamers; when
the guns begin
They think of firelit
homes, clean beds, and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs,4
gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined
trenches, lashed with rain, 10
Dreaming of things they
did with balls and bats,5
And mocked by hopeless
longing to regain
Bank-holidays,6
and picture shows,7
and spats,8
And going to the
office in the train.
Notes
1...death's
. . . land (line 1): The battlefield.
2...Drawing
. . . to-morrows (line 2): Unable to count on the promises of a future
life, for they may die in battle.
3...Soldiers
. . . lives (lines 5-6): Society expects soldiers to fight bravely
with patriotic fervor and, if necessary, die in a glorious moment (flaming,
fatal climax).
4...dug-out
(line 9): Hole or trench dug in a tract of land or a hillside.
5...balls
and bats (line 11): The leather balls and flat bats used in cricket.
6...Bank-holidays
(line 13): Weekdays on which banks close for a legal holiday or another
reason.
7.picture shows: Movies.
8...spats
(line 13): Cloth or leather material worn by fashionable men over the
the middle part of the shoe to cover the instep and ankle. |
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Interpretation and Theme
.......Society
frequently depicts war as an exciting adventure offering opportunities
to prove one's mettle and win glory. But, says Sassoon in presenting his
theme, war is a brutal ordeal for soldiers in muddy, rat-ridden trenches
facing bullets and artillery bombardment--and the sight of bloody uniforms,
torn limbs, and twitching bodies. At such times, what occupies their minds
is not thoughts of heroic deeds but dreams of what really matters in life:
"firelit homes, clean beds, and wives" (line 8) and other ordinary, mundane
activities.
Literary
Devices
.......Examples
of literary devices Sassoon uses in "Dreamers" are the following.
Alliteration
Soldiers
are citizens (line 1)
Drawing
no dividend
from time's to-morrows
(line 2)
Soldiers
are sworn (line 5)
flaming
fatal climax (line 6)
balls
and bats (line 11)
Repetition
Lines 1, 5, and
7 each begin with "Soldiers are."
Irony
.......Young
men ordinarily dream of participating in extraordinary events and becoming
part of history. But, facing the reality of war, they dream of participating
in ordinary events of little consequence historically.
Masculine
and Feminine Rhyme
.......All
of the end rhymes in the poem except one are masculine. Masculine rhyme
occurs when only the final syllable of one line rhymes with only the final
syllable of another line. Feminine rhyme occurs when two syllables (or
more) in one line rhyme rhyme with two syllables (or more) in another rhyme.
The feminine rhyme in "Dreamers" occurs in lines two and four:
Soldiers are citizens
of death's gray 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.
Reference
to Cricket
.......The
reference in line 11 to the game of cricket calls attention to "civilized"
war. The ball is a missile, and the bat is a striking weapon. Like war,
the game takes place on an open field. The suggestion here may be that
humankind should learn to confine its aggression to controlled athletic
contests and similar activities.
Study
Questions and Writing Topics
1.
Sassoon wrote "Dreamers" in the second decade of the Twentieth Century
to counteract the view that going to war was a a great adventure. Do some
people today still glorify combat?
2.
If you were a recruiting officer for the armed forces, what approach would
you use to persuade soldiers to enlist?
3.
Should all citizens be required to serve in the military?
4.
Are you a veteran of battlefield combat? If so, describe for your class
your thoughts when you faced the enemy?
5.
Write an essay describing a typical day for a soldier taking part in trench
warfare in France or another country in World War I.
6.
Write a short poem on a war theme.
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