Glory Of Women By Siegfried Sassoon's Glory Of Women

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Sheila Sadr Professor D. Vipond English 250B December 2, 2014 “Glory of Women”: The Estrangement of the Sexes in the Great War The role of women has been illustrated in many various ways in World War I literature. Women are viewed as young nurses saving soldiers lives, underpaid factory workers, despaired mothers and sweethearts in different popular works. Composed in 1918 during the Great War, Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “Glory of Women” denounces English women of romanticizing in the death and battle of soldiers abroad and attaining vicarious gratification from the war. Many scholars argue that this poem the first in anti-women literature since it discusses a war torn soldier’s resentment of the men’s role in war being death and horrific battle while women would stay in their home country and play pretend that everything was normal and the same. Very few women were informed of the suffering and hardship that all men faced through the war effort. So it was at this point in history that men who had The title itself “Glory of Women” intends to draw readers into an enjoyable poem which would seem to speak of the magnificent female sex. Obviously Sassoon does not follow suit with these expectations. The word “glory” is often identified with the connotation of spiritual and miraculous beauty and importance. The location of the word within the title is clearly ironic since from the start of the poem Sassoon critiques women’s behaviors and attitudes towards the Great War. Another example is when Sasson describes the companions of the soldiers only being sympathetic to them as heroes, but do not " 'retire ' when hell 's last horror breaks them" (9 - 10). They view the Great War as something romantic and full of harmless danger and chivalry when, in truth, it is filled with "trampling corpses", "horror", and "blood" (10 -

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