"COUNTER-ATTACK" By Siegfried Sassoon

VIVID DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DEAD:
One of the means in which Sassoon conveys the critical approach to governments and simultaneously sheds light on the tragic and horrific experiences of the soldiers is by presenting the readers with vivid descriptions of the dead. The clarity, the matter-of-fact tone and the natural rhythm of the poem allows for the vivid descriptions to exude a sense of normalcy in the eyes of the soldiers.
The phrase, “trunks, face downward’, is an explicit and graphic image of decapitated bodies that are left unburied, offering the readers an excessively degrading and grotesque image. To further offer to the reader’s graphic images that are extremely degrading is the phrase, “naked, sodden buttocks”. The aforementioned phrase is an expression of body parts that are not usually exposed and have become so now and this shows the unnaturalness of the situation, but with the lack of a sentimental approach, there is a sense of normalcy to the unusual situation. The fact that the soldiers “slept” offers a realistic portrayal to shock with an addition of normality, their death is not taken into account as soldiers can do naught but take note of fellow soldiers suffering and continue to fight for survival. Instead of dying, they slept sound because they are now at mercy after all the agony they went through, and are left sleeping, above the ground as in this dire situation they cannot be buried. And thus, leaving the soldiers unburied depicts the frenzy the soldiers are enduring as they respond to an attack.