The Hero
by Siegfried Sassoon
'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the mother said,
And folded up the letter that she'd read.
'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something broke
In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.
She half looked up. 'We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.' Then her face was bowed.
Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy.
He thought how 'Jack', cold-footed, useless swine,
Had panicked down the trench that night the mine
Went up at Wicked Corner; how he'd tried
To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,
Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care
Except that lonely woman with white hair.
This is a famous poem by Siegfried Sassoon published in 1917, which is prescribed in the Paschimbanga Higher Secondary syllabus.
This poet, himself being a English soldier in the First World War, has tried to expose the truth behind the making of a hero and at the same time mocks at the people who glorifies war. He has beautifully and in simple narrative language described about the horrors of war and useless bloodshed. No doubt he has tried to convey a message to the world. We have read how "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Lord Tennyson had glorified War.
But I differ to believe that this particular poem "The Hero" has much importance. The poet Seigfried Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) has described how the Colonel in his letter says lies to the old woman about her dead son Jack, who was a soldier uder his command. Though the boy wanted to leave his post and tried to run away but incidentally "blown to small bits" at the Wicked Corner, the colonel declares in his letter that the boy had died a heroic death while fighting his enemies. A colleague brings the letter to the bereaved old mother. The poet wanted to ridicule the situation and has ironically used the tiltle The Hero.
Now, my question is that, did really the Colonel does something that is to be ridiculed? An old woman has lost her son in the war, and she has none to look after her. She is to be officially informed about the death of her son. The Colonel realizes the situation and to console the old mother writes a few good words about the son so that, hearing how bravely her son had fought against the enemy and heroically laid down his life in the battlefield, she accepts the situation and feels good.
The Colonel has just done the right thing. He is a wise man and knows how unbearable it could be for a mother to hear the death of her son and that too a cowardice death. But the Colonel using a few false words takes control of the situation and successfully consoles the old mother. Moreover, the poet himself being a soldier at last understands about the horrors of war and starts writing poems about it. Now can't it be true that the the so-called coward boy soldier realized the truth of war in the battlefield seeing the useless bloodshed, desired to discard warfare and return back?
Realization may come any moment. Perhaps the boy was wiser than the poet for he had understood the uselessness of war and tried to discard it, but the poet who himself had served the army for so long, takes the pen to ridicule the horrors of war at a much later stage.
I may believe, unknowingly the poet has used the right term for the boy soldier. He was truly A Hero because he had realized the truth much before our poet did...
