"Base Details," a satirical war poem by the British poet Siegfried Sassoon, takes aim at the military elite of World War I—the "scarlet Majors" who live indulgent, lavish lives while sending young men to die in their thousands. The poem shows how the war created two very different parallel experiences: the distant yet all-powerful role of those in charge, and the horrific lived reality of those doing the actual fighting. "Base Details" was first published in Sassoon's 1918 collection Counter-Attack and Other Poems.
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The Full Text of “Base Details”
1If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
2 I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
3And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
4 You'd see me with my puffy petulant face,
5Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
6 Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap,"
7I'd say—"I used to know his father well;
8 Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap."
9And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
10I'd toddle safely home and die—in bed.
The Full Text of “Base Details”
1If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
2 I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
3And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
4 You'd see me with my puffy petulant face,
5Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
6 Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap,"
7I'd say—"I used to know his father well;
8 Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap."
9And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
10I'd toddle safely home and die—in bed.
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“Base Details” Summary
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“Base Details” Themes
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War and Power
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Base Details”
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Lines 1-3
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. -
Lines 4-6
You'd see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
Reading the Roll of Honour. -
Lines 6-8
"Poor young chap,"
I'd say—"I used to know his father well;
Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap." -
Lines 9-10
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I'd toddle safely home and die—in bed.
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“Base Details” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Allusion
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Assonance
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Caesura
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End-Stopped Line
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Juxtaposition
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Understatement
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“Base Details” 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.
- Scarlet
- Majors
- Base
- Speed
- Glum
- The Line
- Petulant
- Guzzling
- Roll of Honour
- Chap
- Scrap
- Toddle
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Base Details”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Base Details” Speaker
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“Base Details” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Base Details”
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More “Base Details” Resources
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External Resources
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Sassoon's War Experience — Read a letter from Sassoon to his uncle, written shortly after Sassoon was wounded in battle.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to "Base Details" read aloud by actor Rupert Mason.
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Footage from World War I — Watch a clip from director Peter Jackson's recent WWI documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, and get a glimpse of the poem's world.
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Counter-Attack and Other Poems — Explore the book in which "Base Details" first appeared.
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Sassoon's Life and Work — Listen to a BBC Radio documentary about Siegfried Sassoon and his poetry.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Siegfried Sassoon
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