Composition

When discussing a poem like “Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon, a good starting point is looking at the outer composition (stanzas, verses, graphical expression) and inner composition (beginning, subdivision, course). In this way, you could understand the form and content of lyrical texts and the way these two aspects are linked.

Outer composition

“Suicide in the Trenches” is a three-stanza poem, comprised of three quatrains (four-line stanzas). Each quatrain is made of two couplets, following the rhyme scheme AABB, like in the following example:

I knew a simple soldier boy 
Who grinned at life in empty joy, (ll. 1-2)

This rhyme is also known as nursery rhyme, meaning that it makes poems sound like lullabies or children’s poems. This creates irony, as the poem is about the harsh, gruesome reality of war.

...

Inner composition

The poem’s content is bluntly announced by its title which is very explicit, indicating the lyrical text is going to be about soldiers’ suicide in times of war (through the use of the word trenches).

However, the first stanza seems joyful and simple, describing a “soldier boy” (l. 1) who enjoys life as it comes with “empty joy” (l. 2) and who seems to have no worries or fears.

It is only in the second stanza that the poet switches quite abruptly to a different reality than what the boy is used to.

...