1. Task 2
The Death Bed
He drowsed and was aware of silence heaped
Round him, unshaken as the steadfast walls;
Aqueous like floating rays of amber light,
Soaring and quivering in the wings of sleep.
Silence and safety; and his mortal shore
Lipped by the inward, moonless waves of death.
Someone was holding water to his mouth.
He swallowed, unresisting; moaned and dropped
Through crimson gloom to darkness; and forgot
The opiate throb and ache that was his wound.
Water—calm, sliding green above the weir;
Water—a sky-lit alley for his boat,
Bird-voiced, and bordered with reflected flowers
And shaken hues of summer: drifting down,
He dipped contented oars, and sighed, and slept.
Night, with a gust of wind, was in the ward,
Blowing the curtain to a gummering curve.
Night. He was blind; he could not see the stars
Glinting among the wraiths of wandering cloud;
Queer blots of colour, purple, scarlet, green,
Flickered and faded in his drowning eyes.
Rain—he could hear it rustling through the dark;
Fragrance and passionless music woven as one;
Warm rain on drooping roses; pattering showers
That soak the woods; not the harsh rain that sweeps
Behind the thunder, but a trickling peace,
Gently and slowly washing life away.
He stirred, shifting his body; then the pain
Leaped like a prowling beast, and gripped and tore
His groping dreams with grinding claws and fangs.
But someone was beside him; soon he lay
Shuddering because that evil thing had passed.
And death, who'd stepped toward him, paused and stared.
Light many lamps and gather round his bed.
Lend him your eyes, warm blood, and will to live.
Speak to him; rouse him; you may save him yet.
He's young; he hated war; how should he die
When cruel old campaigners win safe through?
But death replied: “I choose him.” So he went,
2. And there was silence in the summer night;
Silence and safety; and the veils of sleep.
Then, far away, the thudding of the guns.
Analysis
“The Death Bed” is about a dying soldier who moves in and out of consciousness. Even
though the soldier is in a hospital, there is a constant reminder of his time in the war and
leaving in the trenches.
Literary devices
Extended metaphor of water and waves
● It symbolizes how the soldier is in between of life and death, since he is literally dying
due to the war and, in a way, also mentally dying because of the trauma that the war
has caused that is damaging his mind.
Enjambment
● “He drowsed and was aware of silence heaped
Round him, unshaken as the steadfast walls;”
● Sassoon uses this literary device so the reader pauses and doesn’t read it without
understanding the meaning Sassoon is trying to transmit. Sasson is conveying the
trauma that the war caused the soldiers to have.
Tone:Trauma
Theme: Death, War, Life
In my opinion the title of the poem adds to the message. Sassoon is trying to convey the
consequences of the war. How many soldiers were practically dead when they returned
home, even though they survived. The poem’s name is “The Death Bed”, this makes
reference to how the soldiers were left. They weren’t able to reintegrate to society and
continue their life because they were physically and mentally damaged. Soldiers were
traumatized thanks to all the things that they had to lived during the war. This caused them
to be crazy and unable to be considered ‘normal’, which left them hospitalized. They were
literally in a death bed since they were in a hospital trying to fight for their life, but also
metaphorically because the soldier’s mind had been completely damaged that caused them
to be ‘dead’. This message can be perfectly seen with the extended metaphor of water.
Sassoon uses this to show the fine line between life and death of every soldiers after the
war. The soldiers had to fight for their life to be alive amd able to leave the hospital, but at
the same time they were mentally damaged.
Soldier rest
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o’er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
In our isle’s enchanted hall,
Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall,
Every sense in slumber dewing.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o’er,
Dream of fighting fields no more;
3. Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.
No rude sound shall reach thine ear,
Armour’s clang, or war-steed champing,
Trump nor pibroch summon here
Mustering clan or squadron tramping.
Yet the lark’s shrill fife may come
At the daybreak from the fallow,
And the bittern sound his drum,
Booming from the sedgy shallow.
Ruder sounds shall none be near,
Guards nor warders challenge here,
Here’s no war-steed’s neigh and champing,
Shouting clans or squadrons stamping.
Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done;
While our slumberous spells assail ye,
Dream not, with the rising sun,
Bugles here shall sound reveillé.
Sleep! the deer is in his den;
Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying:
Sleep! nor dream in yonder glen
How thy gallant steed lay dying.
Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done;
Think not of the rising sun,
For at dawning to assail ye
Here no bugles sound reveillé.
Analysis
The poem is about a soldier who has been deprived from sleep due to the war and it is trying
to convince itself to rest. But, his unable to do so.
Literary devices:
Anaphora
● Sleep! the deer is in his den;
Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying:
Sleep! nor dream in yonder glen
● This literary device is used, in a way, for reassurance. As if the soldier is trying to
convince itself of sleeping since it has been able to do so due to all of the noise and
work that the war causes.
Oxymorons
● nights of waking
● This represents how the soldiers are sleep deprived.
Metaphors
● Days of danger, nights of waking
Alliteration
● Sleep the sleep
4. ● With alliteration the poet is emphasizing the feeling of relaxation. The poet is trying
to convey how the soldiers should enjoy the sleep because they aren’t alive anymore
and should rest in peace.
Tone:Reflective, Calm, Reassuring, Dream
Theme: War, Death, Sleep, Criticism of war, Afterlife
After reading the poem, I understood that there are two meanings to it. A literal and
metaphorical meaning. The literal meaning is of the soldiers trying to get some rest, since
they have been deprived from it due to the war. The metaphorical meaning has to do with
death. The narrator is telling the soldiers that it is ‘okay’ to die since they have been
damaged due to the war. Even if they won, it is better for them to die since they can be able
to rest and be finally in peace. The war has deteriorated the soldiers physically and mentally,
so the only way they can be at peace is for them to ‘give up’ and die. That is why the poem’s
title and the first line is “Soldier, rest!”. It is emphasizing this idea of how it is okay for their
body to give up, to sleep or die.
