Finished with the war: A soldiers declaration and The Last Meeting

Siegfried Sassoon uses assonance in 'as an act' he uses this in order to portray to the reader why he believes himself to be writing this declaration. We learn through this extract how he believes it to be right that the people back home understand how the war has changed and how there is no longer a purpose for him and the other men to be enduring this on-going suffering. As well as this, through his extensive usage of emotive language including 'I have seen and endured the suffering of the troops,' from this we learn how he believes he is the voice of the collective as he is speaking out on behalf of all the men that remain with him in the war.

The consistent usage of personal pronouns including 'I' remind the reader how he has experienced these conditions and is speaking from experience. This may come as a shock to the people back home as they have been fooled into believing the propaganda about how the war is good and this may be the first time they learn the truth behind the war from someone that has actually being involved in it. The repetition in this extract show 'suffering' to be continuous as it is repeated throughout several points in the text. This highlights to the reader how the suffering these men were enduring was on-going and continuous as there was no break from the pain in which they were  enduring.

Siegfried Sassoon also uses the adjective 'callous' in order to emphasise his belief of the war as he views it as instinctively evil as there are no winners from it. Tis adjective is used as it present's a harsh sound from the consonant 'c' and connotes to the reader the harshness and brutality of these conditions in which they were living. An alternative interpretation could be that the consonance shown through 'callous complacence' is directed towards the people back home as they don't understand how lucky they are to not be at war and he is directing this at them as he believes them to be ungrateful as they do not appreciate their position which annoys Sassoon due to the comparison with the soldiers current reality.
The Last Meeting

• 'I will go up the hill once more'- personal pronouns highlight this is first person as he is talking about his personal experiences- highlights how he believes this will be his final battle
• 'To find the face of him that I have lost'- metaphor- an alternative explanation could be that he sees this final battle as payback for the loss of his friend David Thomas
• 'Far from the earth that might not keep him long'- Imagery- either he could be hinting at him going to heaven/hell or another explanation could be that the body will be destroyed due to the on-going fighting
• 'He was old.' A simple sentence used to draw attention to this specific point as it is unusual for many old people to be in the war due to it being full of young recruits. An alternative explanation could be that his life was dragging on longer than expected. This could be due to the quote being followed by 'his days went round with the unhurrying wheel' this emphasises how his life is a long and continuous repetitive cycle 
• 'Strong, grizzled men' These adjectives could be used to imply the differences in the soldiers when they return from war in comparison to their earlier personalities
• Enjambment is used throughout the poem to show there was few breaks in the war as it was continuous
• 'I heard the treble cries of bursting life' - This metaphor is used to present the slaughter that was the deaths during the war
• 'But he will loom above me like a tree'  - simile- he will be in heaven but Sassoon believes he will be watching over him individually
• 'Quick shattering war leapt upon France and called her men to fight' - used to emphasise how quick the outbreak of war was as people were forced into going to war immediately and left their lives behind
• 'Crunching'- onomatopoeia
• 'An owl flew out from under the high eaves to vanish secretly among the firs.' - Imagery to present how quickly the men left their jobs and home lives to enter the war without a second thought. The adverb 'secretly' could be an alternative interpretation for the men going to war as they might not have told their families
• 'But now they slept; I was afraid to speak' - semi colon is used to separate the deaths and how they later lead to fear against the other troops
• 'I called him, once; then listened: nothing mixed:' repetitive usage of colons to give pauses in the sentence and to show Sassoon's uneasiness as he didn't want to admit his friend had died
• ' I sought the woods that I had known'- past tense- could be used to indicate shock as he looks for an escape
• 'He was beside me now'- friend is a ghost and he believes him to stay with him
• 'My body is the magic of the world' - metaphor
• 'The innocence that strives me'- imagery of the naivety of the soldiers due to their ages
• 'Gathers naked children to her knees'- metaphor for the war as it attracts the young 'children' to join up due to their innocence and naivety. 'naked is used' to imply how they are vulnerable and have nothing to protect them
• ' I Triumph in the choruses of birds'- happy to be involved fighting for his friends and county
• 'I know that he is lost amongst the stars' - metaphor as his friend is only one of many fallen soldiers
• 'can win no meaning from the talk of birds- - could be used to imply there is no purpose of the war
• 'And youth that dying, touched my lips so strong' - imagery- deaths made him fully understand the reality of war and how the young boys are suffering catastrophically