Read these lines from Siegfried Sassoon's "Dreamers."
"And mocked by hopeless longing to regain/Bank holidays, and picture shows, and spats,/And going to the office in the train." which of these can be found in this excerpt?
Which of these can be found in this excerpt?
A. parallelism
B. repetition
C. an epiphany
D. an allusion*****
I feel his words create an allusion of what he wants the reader to imagine. Right? Wrong?
Dear Writeacher,
you are giving incorrect information. It is A. parallelism because the second line follows the same pattern.
Maybe its parallelism - I can't decide...please help me writeacher.
It’s not allusion. It’s parallelism
Oh wow...thank you so much -
I only have a few more to ask you - hope you don't mind...
Based on the excerpt provided, the correct answer is D. an allusion.
An allusion is a figure of speech or a reference to a person, place, event, or work of literature. In this case, the lines mention "Bank holidays, and picture shows, and spats, and going to the office in the train." These elements serve as references to a specific time or period, creating a sense of nostalgia or longing. The mention of these everyday activities evokes a sense of normalcy and longing for a past time, contrasting with the reality of war that the poem explores. Therefore, the lines in the excerpt create an allusion to a different, more peaceful time and place.
So, your interpretation is correct. The words do create an allusion, as they refer to specific elements that evoke a particular era or experience.
An allusion
Great - I should stop second guessing - thank you for the explanation - :)
You're welcome.
Remember -- for the future! -- that Sassoon and his friend Wilfred Owen were writing from the war itself. They were in it.
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections
Reading the entire poem helps! It just isn't that long!!
Dreamers
BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON
Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.
I agree that "allusion" is the best answer among these four. The poet is creating a contrast between the soldier's reality and the life the soldier would really like to be living. The other three answer choices don't fit.