Base Details- Reading Between the Lines

Base Details

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.

In my AP Literature and Composition Class, we have been heavily studying poetry.  More often than not, after reading a poem I am left scratching my head wondering what I just read-- which is exactly what happened after I read Siegfried Sassoon’s Base Details. But as human beings do, I decided to climb that huge mountain of poetry and in the end I think I conquered it. It’s not as though I am some type of expert or something but, I took this challenge whole-heartedly.

First and foremost it is important to point out that this poem is a war poem, which means that the Sassoon will either criticise war in a positive or negative way. One literary element that is heavily used throughout the poem is excellent use of imagery. The very first line of the poem reads: “If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breathe…(1). This first line really made me think, the speaker obviously put himself in the shoes of someone who had these qualities, but then I asked myself, “Why these specific qualities?” As I continued to go through the rest of the poem, the reasons why the speaker would want to possess these qualities. The next line was one that did confuse me when the speaker said that they would live with “scarlet Majors at the Base” (2). I tried to research the word scarlet but all I got was: of the color scarlet and grossly and glaringly offensive. The conclusion I came to about line 2 is that the speaker would literally “live with scarlet Majors at the Base” (2). Meaning that the Majors are safe and sound at the base camp all whilst the soldiers are out fighting with their lives on the line. Maybe being fierce, bald, and short of breathe came with the fact that he/she would have some sort of control or authority over the soldiers at their base. Maybe that is the reason why the speaker would have any desire to possess such qualities. In line 5 the speaker says that he/she would “[guzzle] and [gulp] in the best hotel”-- an image of a bar, a fancy bar, immediately entered my head. Which again pointed out the fact that the Majors of the Base are having plenty of time to relax and let loose, while the rest of the soldiers are again, risking their lives for their country. With all of this the Majors of the Base are also sending “glum heroes up the line of death” (3)-- this haunting image sent chills up my spine. The mere fact that the Majors of the Base are having a great time at a fancy bar while soldiers are literally lining up to face their deaths on the battlefield. Not a very pretty image is it?

Noticing this use of visual imagery I could not help but get a feeling that there was something bigger going on here-- that there was a bigger message hiding behind all of this. In my opinion, I think that Sassoon is criticizing those of higher power in the military and how they sort of hide behind the soldiers who actually fight in combat. I mean at the end of the day the Majors of the Base are “[toddling] safely home and die-- in bed” (10). Unlike those who sacrifice their lives for their country and sometimes die in the cold, in a sea full of hatred.