Representation of War in Sassoon’s They, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and the film Hedd Wynn

Representation of War in Sassoon’s They, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, and the film Hedd Wynn

“They”, by Siegfried Sassoon, “Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, and the film Hedd Wynn directed by Paul Turner, were works written about World War I. These works were the author’s point of view about the war. The authors described how the war effected people during and after the war was over. The poem “They”, by Siegfried Sassoon was a poem written during World War I. The poem basically states that no man comes out of the war the same. People who go into war are facing death. Either the soldier comes out alive, or dead. The war will have some affect on a soldier in some way or another. This representation of war applies to Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway”, and the film Hedd Wynn. Both pieces consist of characters that went to war, and as a result died in the war. It seems as if the authors believe that if there is a war, there will be some kind of tragedy as a result. The tragedy isn’t always a bad thing. Either there will be Mental problems, physical problems, or death as the result. The poem “They” displays a war representation of change of human existence can be applied to the novel Mrs. Dalloway, and Hedd Wynn. Mrs. Dalloway, and Hedd Wynn representation of war was death.

The poem “They” begins with a Bishop saying that the soldiers wouldn’t come back as the same men. Some of soldiers admitted that some were injured, and faced death. Some of the soldiers also admitted that no man would come from the war without being changed. Siegfried Sassoon is stating that these men who fight in the war, will come back changed physically, mentally, or face death. In “Mrs. Dalloway”, the character Septimus fought in the World War I in Englan...

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...s mind from the war. Woolf used Clarissa as a person who could relate to Septimus, because she wanted to plunge into another place herself. By plunging into another place, she could get away from the facade that she had to put on in front of guest. She wanted to be herself, not someone else. Ellis died, and he won chair for his poem. Once again people change after they fight in the war. Woolf and the Paul Turner also imply that death is not always a terrible aspect in one’s life. It can bring out the best in a person.

Work Cited

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. San Diego, New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1925.

Sasoon, Siegfried. “They.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 7th ed. vol. 2c. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. p. 2055

Hedd Wynn. Dir. Paul Turner. Perf. Huw Garman, Catrin Fychan. Welsh Films., 1996.

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