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Denotation and Connotation. “Base Details” - Siegfried Sassoon. Denotation. The dictionary meaning of a word or the idea that the word represents. Vulgar. BASE. Military zone. Foundational. DETAILS. Subordinate element. Specific. Military group. Connotation. fierce ?.
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Denotation and Connotation “Base Details” - Siegfried Sassoon
Denotation • The dictionary meaning of a word or the idea that the word represents. Vulgar BASE Military zone Foundational DETAILS Subordinate element Specific Military group
Connotation fierce ? • The emotional associations of a word or phrase, as opposed to its exact meaning. • “fierce” has a denotation meaning hostile, but also has a positive connotation for Tyra Bank fans. However, its connotation is negative in this poem. fierce?
Who is the speaker? • If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base, And speed glum heroes up the line to death.You'd see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap," I'd say -- "I used to know his father well; Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap."And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I'd toddle safely home and die -- in bed. Trivialize war
The poem criticizes a system that preserves “puffy petulant old men, but sends young chaps off to be killed. All of the details describing the older military men emphasize their decrepitude. The young men are glum in the face of soon being stone (as in grave-stone dead.)
MOTIF – recurring image Emphasize the decadence of the older career military men. Fierce, bald, short of breath,scarlet Majors, puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping, best hotel, toddle safely home SCARLET Vivid red Flagrantly offensive