Does It Matter?

Does It Matter?
During World War I (1914–18) hundreds of thousands of British soldiers were sent to the battlefields in France and Belgium to fight in the trenches. The muddy trenches on both sides stretched from the English Channel to the borders of Switzerland. Soldiers ate, slept and stood guard in mud. To attack they had to go “over the top” and face the deadly power of machine guns. Millions of soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed or badly wounded. Though none of the fighting actually happened in Britain, the experiences of this war marked a whole generation of Britons.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) was a soldier during World War I. He began to write poetry while fighting in Belgium. His poems are very realistic. They both criticize what he saw as exaggerated patriotism in his time and show compassion for his fellow soldiers. Sassoon was awarded the Military Cross, which he later threw away. This act almost got him court-martialed as a pacifist. Sassoon also organised public protests against the war.

ACTIVITY
a) Each of the three stanzas describes a specific war wound. Rewrite the stanzas in your own words and explain which wound the author is referring to, how he expects the wounded to deal with it, and his predictions about how other people will react to it.
b) What do you think they were like, ’those dreams from the pit’ that the poem mentions? Do you think that mental war wounds can be as bad as physical ones?
c) The title of the poem is a question. How do you think Sassoon would want you to respond to it? Do you agree with him?

SOURCE

Does It Matter? - by Siegfried Sassoon

Does it matter? – losing your legs?
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter? – losing your sight?
There’s such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter? – those dreams from the pit?
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won’t say that you’re mad,
For they’ll know you’ve fought for your
country
And no one will worry a bit.

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