'Lions led by Donkeys?'The Portrayal of the Officer Class in Pat Barker's 'Regeneration', R.C Shrrifs 'Journeys End' and a selection of poetry by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen

Lions led by Donkeys?’: The Portrayal of the Officer Class in Pat Barker’s ‘Regeneration’, R.C Sherrif’s Journey’s End and a selection of poetry by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.

‘He’s young; he hated War: how should he die
when cruel old campaigners win safe through?’#

The First World War claimed the life of five million fighting men. Siegfried Sassoon wrote in his letter of resignation: “I have seen the suffering of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.”# This was an act of wilful defiance of military authority. Sassoon could not go on witnessing young men die violent deaths while ‘cruel old campaigners win safe through.’ He expressed his conviction of the brutality and waste of war in grim, forceful, realistic verse. Poems such as ‘Base Details’, ‘Repression of War Experience’ and ‘The Rear Guard’ will be used amongst other references to portray his fee...