Aftermath commentary

“Aftermath” gives insight into the post-war British culture that places a lot of importance on
subduing agonizing memories and reveals how that culture, by expecting an individual to forget,
intensifies the leftover desolation that proceeds from the war. The poem sends a very thought-
provoking message that conveys to its readers that for society in order to regenerate after such a
catastrophe, one needs not to submit to the urge to repress agonizing memories, but to
remember and accept the sufferings he has undergone instead.

“Aftermath” is a reflection upon the war after it has ended, critically discussing the post-war
society and that society’s progression of moving forward from the tragedy of war. The motif that
consistently reoccurs throughout the poem evaluates the key issue that is evident in its title – the
“aftermath” of war. Sassoon’s exposition recounts how although young men are “reprieved” from
war and have made their ways back into society, they still are confronted by the “haunted gap” of
their minds; his recount therefore suggests that returning soldiers are unable to properly move
forward with life, because they still have not yet learned to accept and live with the terror of the
past. This elaborates on Sassoon’s exploration of how the repressive post-war society, instead of
nurturing and offering social support to these soldiers, have actually prevented them from
remembering and coming to terms with the past. Sassoon’s evaluation is greatly enriched by his
use of imagery. Very pleasant images such as the “clouds,” and the “lit heaven of life” are being
layered alternately between disturbing images such as the “dying eyes,” the “lolling heads” and
the “doomed and haggard faces.” It is noticeable that there are not nearly as many pleasant
images, and that the number of disturbing images is dominant and overpowering throughout the
poem. This once again hints at the underlying disturbances that will continually haunt the soldiers
who are supposedly enjoying life. It intensifies Sassoon’s powerful remark: soldiers have been
“reprieved” and have been given the precious gift of life, but they are still being subconsciously
haunted by the memories of the “slain of the War”; however hard they try to move forward and
however much they cherish life, men returning from war would forever be troubled by the
memories of the massacre and butchery they have caused.

The poem is written in the second-person perspective, addressing the “you,” which most probably
represents the society Sassoon is trying to appeal to. This renders Sassoon’s message even more
critical because it directly speaks to the reader, which not only immediately appeals to their
interest and gains their attention, but also makes it more solemn and despondent: “Have you
forgotten yet?” What’s more, by incorporating such an interesting perspective, Sassoon also
shares his emotions – whether longing or plaintive, contemplative or mournful – with his reader,
inviting them to undergo the dismal and “[haunting]” experience of the war’s “aftermath” with
him and the rest of the post-war society. The poem’s perspective enables the reader to relive an
extremely paradoxical era and relate to the soldiers who were not nurtured or supported by the
civilian community but were instead forced into suppressing their own memories. This makes the
poem very powerful and moving because it arouses the reader’s sympathy and compassion
meanwhile prompting them to be critical of the society that’s so uncaring and so callously
unmindful of those who have sacrificed their youth and liveliness to protect it.

Furthermore, Sassoon has developed various voices throughout the poem, as if to look into the
“aftermath” of war from different perspectives in an exhaustive, complete and in-depth evaluation
of society. At the beginning, the voice is distinguishably identical to the voice of “society” for it
refers to the post-war days as “the world’s events.” Society at the time puts a lot of importance
on the progression from war. Therefore the reference to “the world’s events” sounds distinctively
like society speaking because it reflects society’s overstated emphasis on the process of moving
on. However, soon after, Sassoon has also taken upon what sounds like the voice of a soldier who
has returned from the war, reflecting on the despair and horror of war – the “stench of corpses
rotting,” the “hopeless rain,” the “doomed and haggard faces” of soldiers. This voice explores
how alienated and disoriented a soldier would feel being re-integrated back into society right after
the war and very powerfully expresses the resentment towards the oblivious and ignorant civilian
community who do not try to be understanding of the difficulties a soldier must overcome.
Moreover, the two antithetical poetic voices (of the soldiers and of society) create a dramatic
divergence that resembles the conflicts between two social groups at the time: one group wants
to remember while the other wants to forget. It’s criticizing British culture by justifying that what
society idealizes or assumes is good is not necessarily good in actuality for an individual.
On top of that, the form of the poem also contributes a lot to the message Sassoon is trying to get
across as it greatly reflects his sentiments and viewpoints. There is hardly any uniformity in the
structure of the stanzas except for the fact that the longer ones are non-italic while the shorter
ones are written in italics. Apart from that, there is an irregular pattern in the length of the
stanzas and in the number of stresses on each line. The lack of structure reiterates the absence of
security and steadiness, which is also a furtive indication implying that the re-entry into civility
after war is very tenuous and not at all as stable as some would like to think. This correlates back
to Sassoon’s very sophisticated choice of words – “rumbled.” Using a word with connation alluding
to unbalance in describing the reconstruction of a post-war society suggests that that society is
only pretending to be regaining equilibrium. It is indicating that in actual that so-called regained
‘equilibrium’ is very tenuously layered atop underlying social instability and problems – which are
in this case the haunting memories that men are indoctrinated into suppressing. However hard
people try to forget, especially when they try to forget without learning how to accept the past
first, the dismal past would still be the protruding factor that continually comes back and disturbs
their state of mind.

The rhyme scheme also has achieved to build up the essence of the poem. The poem has an
inconsistent rhyme scheme, which reflects the flimsiness in the reshaping of society. There would
very often be a lack of rhyme, for instance, the traditional rhyme “flow” and “go” in line 5 is
followed by a non-rhyme “spare.” These frequent non-rhymes go against the entire rhyme
scheme that’s established in the rest of the stanza, rendering itself even more significantly
discordant. This affects the harmony of the poem, making the poem sound extremely jarring and
discordant. This is a very notable thing because its lack of harmoniousness demonstrates the
disorder and chaos that would be likely to frequently emerge from what’s perceived to be an
orderly society. It indicates that the normalcy apparently gained is only pretended, as though it’s
a disguise to conceal the unrevealed and suppressed disarray.

What’s more, there are numerous literary techniques that have been very appropriately employed
to intensify the profundity of the poem’s meaning. The cleverly incorporated onomatopoeia
particularly enhances the poem’s depth. The mute “t” sound in the rhymes “yet” and “forget”,
“Mametz” and “parapets” consistently recurs, creating a very powerful effect where the
onomatopoeic mute interrupts the breath and creates harsh and strident sound effects. This
relates to the exposition of a conflicting and incongruous society that’s previously been
established, boosting Sassoon’s critical evaluation of the antithetical and inconsistent culture at
the time. It further reflects upon the paradoxical era when questioning whether the war was right
is considered an offense to the dead. At the same time, it is reinforcing Sassoon’s appeal “Do you
every stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’” This is an earnest request calling for people
to contemplate on the sufferings they have caused instead of choosing the ‘easy’ way out where
they can just forget. This intensifies Sassoon’s revolutionary stance against such convention –
what Sassoon is trying to convey completely goes against society’s expectations and against
traditional values, which have placed a lot of importance on indoctrinating people into believing
the war has been right. Once again, Sassoon is rejecting the idea of forgetting. Once again, he is
declaring that need to remember and to accept.

“Aftermath” is a powerful and thought-provoking appeal to the post-war society not to submit to
the repressive government at the time. Sassoon is an iconic figure who is, on behalf of the
community of soldiers who have returned from war, standing up against the uncaring government
who are relentlessly indoctrinating its subjects into neglecting the memories of war and
overlooking the mistake the whole society has made. The poem graphically gives insights into a
divergent and segregated society where one social group wants one thing and another group
wants another, where the culture is not embracing the community of returning soldiers although
claiming to be integrating them back into society.