against forgetting

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Analysis of “Repression of War Experiences”
Against Forgetting by Carolyn Force collect anthologies of social extremities and
historical endurance such exile, state censorship, house arrest, political persecutions, military
persecution and assassination experienced by poets. By gathering literary writings that she calls
poetry of witness, Forches intends Against Forgetting to reveal the ways in which tragic events
leave marks upon imagination. Against Forgetting is itself against injustices, prejudice, and
tyranny and it is a witness to the evil the society would prefer to forget. In the poem “Repression
of War Experience” by Siegfried Sassoon, the uses emotional and mental hardship face by
solders of the World War are revealed. The poem uses traumatized voice of a solder to reveal
such experiences. This essay aim at exploring the experiences of the solder as reveled in the
poem.
Repression of War experiences is an unrhymed poem in three stanzas. The tittle of the
poem suggest the inability or unwillingness to accept the experiences one went through World
War. The word repression clinically direct the authors reference to Die Traumdeutung which
suggest according to Sigmund Freud that although an individual can register traumatic

2. experiences, repressed memories always return to haunt them. The poem is more of a dramatic
act since the author speak more of an English solder and not his own repression. As such, the
voice of persona dominate the poem, a feature of most dramatic monologue.
Because the author describe experiences of war, the poem belong to the category of war
poems. This is because the author utilizes the techniques of documentary realism with slangy
language of the barracks such as ‘jabber”, “Bloody war”. However, the poem is more of factual
journalistic records. The author also uses dramatic irony; a literary devices which is often
essential to most dramatic monologue. This is used by the author to critically reveal critical
moment the solder intentionally went through. The solders in the poem constantly talk to
himself, contrary to most dramatic monologue that are mostly addressed to the audience. A time
the solder refer to himself as “You”, this seem to suggest his superego or his self, whereas the
use of “I” suggest his thought.
Repression of War Experience illustrate Forches’ notion of the anthology as events by
translating the very personal space of a solder and their mental landscape into realism into
socially recognizable pictures that clearly portray particular events of war into realm social life.
The persona’s action, ‘now light the candle” (1) are as particular to battle as they do the typical
rooms. The personification, “book standing so quiet and patient on their shelves” (18), emphases
the cozy home atmosphere. These imagery presented by solder reveals his longing for home or
his distance. The ability of the author to tap the universal experiences by avoiding certain
thinking patterns is effectively rendered. “’it is bad to think of war” (5). Like the moth that
inhabit the poem, the persona can easily blunder on those nagging thoughts and find themselves
in ‘jabber”. These specific universalities can be translated into traumatic events to reflect the
experiences of a mother with post mortem depression. The universal language used in the poem

3. of the witness enable the reader to appreciate other experiences without diminishing it and its
distinctness. Also the reader is able to incarnate the poem’s specific events with its specific
trauma (Forches 33).
The poem is structured according to Iambic pentameter where the perspective of the
persona is practically organized with stream of consciousness. There is the metaphor of a moth
as solder. Initially, this metaphor (solders) attracted the glory of war but later he realized they
had gone against glory, disoriented and had lost the war. It is ironic according to the poem that
the World War experiences had changed the solders morals or value they had before. It is also
ironic for one to claim to have wisdom of the world yet the solders experiences are more than
their share of surrounding. The poem Repression of War Experiences uses personification to
emphases the sustained psychological damage by the solders after war. The author also describes
the book as wise and as quite on bookshelves. This personify the event of the poem in a specific
manner. The poem uses analogy of the moths that are described as ‘silly beggars’ that parallel
the fame and glory of war. Events of war are described in onomatopoeia …’thud thud thud”
which are sound of war. Imagery such as “jolly company”, “dressed in dim brown and every
kind of color” illustrate the solders’ mental excitement when they escape depressing lifestyle in
combat.