Aftermath
Have you forgotten yet?...For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,Like traffic checked awhile at the crossing of city ways:And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flowLike clouds in the lit heavens of life; and you're a man reprievedto go,Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.But the past is just the same,--and War's a bloody game....Have you forgotten yet?...Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll neverforget.
Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz,--The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbagson parapets?Do you remember the rats; and the stenchOf corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench,--And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?Do you ever stop and ask, "Is it all going to happen again?"
Do you remember that hour of din before the attack,--And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you thenAs you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching backWith dying eyes and lolling heads,--those ashen-greyMasks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?
Have you forgotten yet?...Look up, and swear by the green of the Spring that you'll neverforget.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- sector n.
- A part of a circle comprehended between two radii and the included arc. [L., properly, a cutter, fr. secare, sectum, to cut: cf. F. secteur. See Section.]
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- stench v. t.
- To stanch. Harvey.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- stretcher n.
- One who, or that which, stretches.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aftermath is in the public domain. This text is taken from The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon, Project Gutenberg ebook #45199; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Siegfried Sassoon, Aftermath, in The War Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45199, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-war-poems/aftermath.html, id L17279.
Form and metre
Aftermath is 27 lines in 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBC-C--A-A yetA · daysB · waysB · flowC · reprieved · goC · spare · game · yetA · never · forgetA
- 2 ---AABB mametz · sandbags · parapets · stenchA · trenchA · rainB · againB
- 3 ABBACC attackA · thenB · menB · backA · greyC · gayC
- 4 A-A yetA · never · forgetA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Have you forgotten yet?... | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days, | 13 | ···˘/·/˘····· |
| Like traffic checked awhile at the crossing of city ways: | 14 | ·/˘·˘/··/˘·/˘· |
| And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| Like clouds in the lit heavens of life; and you're a man reprieved | 15 | ·····/˘······˘/ |
| to go, | 2 | ·· |
| Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare. | 12 | /˘·/˘······· |
| But the past is just the same,--and War's a bloody game.... | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Have you forgotten yet?... | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never | 13 | ············/ |
| forget. | 2 | ˘/ |
| Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz,-- | 16 | ··˘/˘······/˘··· |
| The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags | 12 | ·····/····/· |
| on parapets? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Do you remember the rats; and the stench | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench,-- | 12 | ·/˘/˘······· |
| And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain? | 14 | ··/˘/˘·····/˘· |
| Do you ever stop and ask, "Is it all going to happen again?" | 15 | ··/······/·/˘˘/ |
| Do you remember that hour of din before the attack,-- | 14 | ··˘/˘·/·····˘/ |
| And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then | 15 | ··/˘··˘/˘······ |
| As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men? | 14 | ·······/˘/˘··· |
| Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back | 13 | ··˘/˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| With dying eyes and lolling heads,--those ashen-grey | 12 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay? | 12 | ············ |
| Have you forgotten yet?... | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Look up, and swear by the green of the Spring that you'll never | 13 | ············/ |
| forget. | 2 | ˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.