Base Details

BASE DETAILS The poem “Base Details” is a mockery and has a sarcastic tone against the army generals and authorities who watch the battle long away from the hands of harm. Sassoon blames the Majors for the lives of the soldiers killed while they were back in the base safe and did not have the slightest idea of what goes on behind the enemy lines. Sassoon’s sarcasm is shown through his hatred of how …

…shows the likeliness of death for those in front lines and distinguishes the difference of it comparing to the Majors who return safely from war and die a natural death without the cruelty. The title of this poem is a pun because the word base is a pun as the base means both the headquarters of an army and it also means despicable and cowardly. This justifies the initiation of his purpose of the poem.