The poem ‘Base Details’ is about war. As you might have guessed, the poet Siegfried Sassoon was a soldier in the First World War. He saw the horrors of war for himself and knew what it was like to be one of the ordinary soldiers forced to take orders from those in charge. Listen out for words that appear close together and start with the same sound or letter.
Base Details By Siegfried Sassoon
If I were fi erce, and bald, and short of breath, I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base, And speed glum heroes up the line to death. You’d see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’ I’d say – ‘I used to know his father well; Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’ And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die – in bed.
Majors:
high-ranking army offi cers petulant: sulky Roll of Honour:
