Poetry Assignment, Poetry Anaylsis, To His Dead Body by Siegfried Sassoon

To His Dead Body

When roaring gloom surged inward and you cried,
Groping for friendly hands, and clutched, and died,
Like racing smoke, swift from your lolling head
phantoms of thought and memory thinned and fled.

Yet, though my dreams that throng the darkened stair
Can bring me no report of how you fare,
Safe quit of wars, I speed you on your way
Up lonely, glimmering fields to find new day,
Slow-rising, saintless, confident and kind—
Dear, red-faced father God who lit your mind.

By Siegfried Sassoon

Analysis 

Power Words:

Roaring Gloom: This is evocative language to describe the feeling and trauma of when a friend gets shot right beside you. It's surface meaning is the feeling of overwhelming sadness of when an individual gets killed by a gunshot, but also has a deeper meaning of something the writer has experienced and the trauma he went through to have his friend get shot and killed when serving in battle with him. This is an example of imagery. 

Racing Smoke: This two words are referring to a allusion, it is also an example of a simile. The writer is trying to get you to be able to play like a scene in your head his death and the way the life raced out of him. 

Phantoms: This is a such a good power word because it a word that has a large loaded meaning to every individual. For instance, to me when I hear the word phantom I imagine almost a Christmas Carol type ghost that is has a pale, clear look to them and is a very sad, depressed soul. Many may have ghost related experiences, dead relatives, or dead friends that will help load this word more, many may even just feel that they do not exist, others that phantoms or ghosts are 100 percent real. The word when it pertains to this poem is a association and it helps create a quick image in many people's minds when they read this. In the line the writer is trying to give you a empty, baron kind of feeling.         

Friendly Hands: This is another loaded word, these words could be a reference to a relative or someone close that passed away, it could be a reference to a near death experience or it could just be evocative language used to create a good image in the readers mind. It is my belief that in this line it is evocative language to conjure up a personal memory or experience to help bring more meaning to poem. This is another example of imagery.         

New Day: This is evocative word choice to try to get you to think of a happy, new day that was very inspirational or important to the reader. The writer wants you to associate this word with a good feeling, or associate this with a religious view the reader may have.   

Archetypes: 

1. The archetype is a grieving or guilty friend. The poem suggests that- is more a grieving friend then a guilty one. 

2. Siegfried had dozens of friends that have died in action either well serving in the same unit has him or just serving in the war. He also had a brother named Hamo that died in service during the Gallipoli Campaign, he took his brother's death very hard and this is what the poem could be referring to. Either his brother or one of his multiple friends and the grief he went through when they passed.  

3.   "Groping for friendly hands, and clutched, and died"- this tells us that he knew the individual that was shot and is now dying, it is  also possible that he was present during the events.   

  "Safe quit of wars, I speed you on your way"- this tells the readers that he cared about the person who passed away and he wants them to have a quick and safe travel to heaven, the after life, etc.     

Title: The title in this case is not a necessity, it is a poem that you would be able to fully understand if you did not look at the title. "To His Dead Body" suggests that it will be about a personal experience the writer went through, and was a very meaningful or traumatic memory for him. The title is a complete summary of the poem, it suggests to the reader that it will be like a letter or a goodbye to someone close to the writer who passed away.