how do the two poems commemorate the dead?

‘They shall grow, not old, as we who are left grow old’ this commemorated the fallen because us who did not die and fight will get old but the ones that fought and died will live on forever. However Siegfried Sassoon talks of war as a bad unjustifiable thing especially the people not involved. ‘Sneak home and pray you’ll never know the hell where youth and laughter go.’ He is commerating the dead here because they were not afraid of dying for their country and they did not find it good like the nieve crowds he mentions here.’You smug faced crowds’.

Robert Laurence Binyon commemorates the dead with this. ‘They fell with their faces to the foe.’ this is first an alliteration but he is also saying how they were not cowards but in fact some of the most bravest men who had ever lived. Even when they knew they were going to die they did not run. This is similar to Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘Suicide in the trenches’ because in the last stanza he talks about the bravery of the youth, but a key difference is that Siegfried Sassoon says that those who are not involved are cowards and naive to believe war is a good and justifiable thing.

I think Siegfried Sassoon is trying to persuade us to believe that all war is a terrible thing. He is trying to make us angry at the fact of war and also sad. If he can play with our emotions then he can get his own way and more people will believe in his opinion. ‘ the hell where youth and laughter go’ This makes us want to question authority, with questions like why are we sending our youth to death?

However Robert Laurence Binyon is trying to get a totally different response all together. He wants us all to be honored that people died. Happy that young people were so brave. He does this here ‘They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted’ He is saying that the soldiers would not move and would never give in to the enemy. This makes us have an emotional response of wow how can i not feel a sense of gratitude for these men?

Siegfreid Sasssoon commemorates the solider here ‘And whistled early with the lark’ At first this seems like a piece of pointless information. However I can see a deeper meaning which I think he wants everyone else to see. Which is, you will only see a lark early in the morning but by the afternoon and nightfall it will be gone. I think he is comparing the lark to the soldier as he was at first loud but as the war progressed he realized that it wasn’t fun and by the next morning he was silent and dead. he is trying to get us to feel a sense of sorrow for these soldiers, as well as this he wants us to see that war is not a game and to notice the things which have a much bigger meaning.

Siegfried Sassoon is also commemorating war here with this quote ‘No one spoke of him again’. He is commemorating the dead soldier here by speaking of someone no one else had the courage to do. I think he does this because there must be a reason why no one spoke about him. I think the main reason is that the media,government and huge powers in the world wanted war to appeal to the youth of the world. So they would not want to advertise the fact that war turns people to suicide. So because Siegfried Sassoon is a huge believer in war being a terrible thing so him saying this causes us to have the emotional reaction of why are we sending our children to die when there are better ways to resolve world problems.

Robert Laurence Binyon commemorates the bravery of the soldiers who died and were lost in action. I have evidence for this here . ‘And a glory that shines upon our tears.’ He is saying that although we will be mourning for our lost we should also feel glory that we won the war. He is trying to promote the opposite of Siegfried Sassoon, which is that although many of our children, fathers, brothers and sisters died they were not in vain. They will live on forever in our memories. This is a way Robert Laurence Binyon commemorates the war.

Robert Laurence Binyon Also commemorates the war here but not only the war but the soldiers and the country. ‘Fallen in the cause of the’ This shows that he believes that we should not be sad because if it was not for the amount of dead there was we would be the German’s slaves. He is also creating imagery here i see that for every dead person someone else lives. Some one else breaks away from the shackles of slavery. Another person gets the chance to fulfill their dreams. I think this is a really good way of persuading the reader to share Robert Laurence Binyon’s point of view, as many people believe that their family died in vain this small piece of text which some people would just skip over is one of the most influential words ever.

In conclusion I believe that Robert Laurence Binyon and Siegfried Sassoon have very different views on war which are shown very clearly in, ‘Suicide in the trenches’ and ‘For the fallen’. I think Mr Binyon gives us his view easily as he is backed up by the media, but Mr Sassoon keeps deeper meanings which in opinion has a better effect. These are my comparisons between Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Laurence Binyon.