“Attack” Introduction

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“Attack” Summary

“Attack” Themes

• 

  The Horrors of War

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• 

  Nature and Warfare

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Attack”

• Lines 1-4

  At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun
  In the wild purple of the glow'ring sun,
  Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud
  The menacing scarred slope;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-6

  and, one by one,
  Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.
  The barrage roars and lifts.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-8

  Then, clumsily bowed
  With bombs and guns and shovels and battle-gear,
  Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear,
  They leave their trenches, going over the top,
  While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-13

  And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,
  Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!

  

  

  

  

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“Attack” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

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“Attack” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• The Ridge
• Massed
• Dun
• Glow'ring
• Smouldering
• Spouts
• Shroud
• The Wire
• Barrage
• Jostle
• Bristling
• Furtive
• Grappling
• Flounder

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Attack”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Attack” Speaker

“Attack” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Attack”

More “Attack” Resources

• External Resources

  • Sassoon's Correspondence — A letter from Sassoon to his uncle, shortly after Sassoon was wounded in battle.

  • Sassoon's Life and Work — A BBC Radio documentary about Siegfried Sassoon and his poetry. 

  • More Poems From WWI — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation focusing on First World War poetry.

  • A Reading of the Poem — Sassoon's poem read brilliantly by actor Gemma Arteton. 

  • Another Reading, This Time by Helen Mirren! — This excellent reading is by actor Dame Helen Mirren.

  • Bringing WWI to Life — In this clip, director Peter Jackson discusses his recent WWI film, They Shall Not Grow Old. Though technology, Jackson brings old war footage to vivid life, restoring a sense of the soldiers as actual people.  

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Siegfried Sassoon

  • Base Details

  • Suicide in the Trenches

  • The Death Bed

  • The Rear-Guard