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EAL Nexus resource
Sassoon’s letter
Comparison with ‘Base Details’
Subject:
English
Age groups:
12–14, 15–16
Topic:
World War I
Licence information | This resource is free to use for educational purposes. ©British Council 2014
Source | This resource was originally developed by Nerissa Lea and has been adapted by EAL Nexus.
Fill in the Venn diagram, deciding which ideas Sassoon expresses in
the poem, which in the letter and which in both.
 As a soldier, he is not really
allowed to write this
 When the war started we were
fighting to defend ourselves
and free other countries
 The people with power are old
men and the soldiers are young
 The living conditions of the
people in charge are very
different from those of the
ordinary soldiers
 The aims of the war have
changed since it started
 The soldiers should be told
what they are fighting for
 The majors act like spoilt
children
 He does not believe in the aims
of the war, they are unfair and
wrong
 People in Britain do not know
what is happening in the war
 People in power are lying to the
soldiers
 This war is going on too long
 The people in power are
deliberately keeping the war going
 He is speaking on behalf of other
soldiers
 The soldiers are suffering
 When the soldiers die, the people
in charge just send more to
replace them
 The war is not worth the
suffering it is causing
 The majors are fat, unfit and red
in the face because they eat and
drink too much
 The people in power do not care
about the soldiers and their
suffering
 The soldiers are being sacrificed
without a good reason
 The people in charge do not live
with the soldiers on the front line
 He feels very angry about what is
happening
©British Council 2014
Base Details poem
Letter to The Times
Licence information | This resource is free to use for educational purposes. ©British Council 2014
Source | This resource was originally developed by Nerissa Lea and has been adapted by EAL Nexus.
Using the ideas from the Venn diagram, write some
sentences comparing and contrasting the arguments
Sassoon uses in the letter with the themes of ‘Base
Details’.
You may find the following sentence starters useful.
Similarities
1. In both ‘Base Details’ and Sassoon’s letter to The Times he
expresses the view that …
2. In ‘Base Details’ he does this by writing …
3. In the letter he expresses the same idea by …
4. Another argument the two pieces have in common is that …
5. Also …
Differences
1. The main difference between the poem and the letter is that …
2. Also, in the letter Sassoon says …
3. On the other hand in ‘Base Details’ he …
Now write a sentence saying whether you prefer the letter or the
poem and giving a reason.
Your opinion
In my opinion the ________ is more effective than the ________
because …
Licence information | This resource is free to use for educational purposes. ©British Council 2014
Source | This resource was originally developed by Nerissa Lea and has been adapted by EAL Nexus.