The General

Poetry › Siegfried Sassoon (1918)

Siegfried Sassoon’s “The General” (1918) exposes the tragic consequences of military incompetence during World War I. In a few sardonic lines, Sassoon contrasts the cheerful demeanor of a commanding officer with the grim fate of the soldiers he leads to their deaths, capturing the bitter irony of battlefield leadership.

“Good-morning; good-morning!” the General said When we met him last week on our way to the line. Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead, And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine. “He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack 5 As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

Introduction and Context

Siegfried Sassoon’s “The General” was first published in 1918 in his collection Counter-Attack and Other Poems, written during the final years of World War I. Like much of Sassoon’s work, the poem draws directly from his service on the Western Front, where he witnessed the needless loss of life caused by poor planning and blind optimism among senior officers. Sassoon (1886–1967), both a decorated soldier and outspoken critic of the war, transformed his outrage into concise, satirical verse that stripped away the rhetoric of heroism and revealed the machinery of incompetence beneath.

This brief seven-line poem distills Sassoon’s anti-war message into a biting encounter between front-line soldiers and their general. The general’s breezy greeting—“Good-morning; good-morning!”—embodies the hollow cheerfulness of military authority, oblivious to the realities of the trenches. The ironic contrast between his geniality and the soldiers’ grim fate—“Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead”—turns the poem into an epitaph for the common man’s sacrifice. Sassoon’s use of colloquial speech, rhyme, and rhythm gives the poem a conversational immediacy that heightens its dark humor. The final couplet, with its quick shift from camaraderie to condemnation, exposes the fatal consequences of bureaucratic detachment.

Historically, “The General” reflects the growing disillusionment of soldiers after catastrophic offensives like the Somme and Arras, where outdated tactics led to mass casualties. Sassoon’s satire challenges the traditional narrative of noble command, replacing it with a portrait of leadership marked by fatal incompetence and moral blindness. His tone combines soldierly vernacular with moral indictment—an early form of what Paul Fussell later termed “ironic realism,” the defining feature of modern war literature.

In its brevity and directness, the poem anticipates later twentieth-century critiques of institutional failure and euphemistic language in times of crisis. Today, Sassoon’s “The General” remains a potent reminder of how bureaucracy and optimism can mask violence, and how the rhetoric of leadership often obscures responsibility for human loss.

Questions for Consideration

1. How does Sassoon’s use of conversational language and simple rhyme affect the tone of the poem? What emotions are produced by this blend of humor and tragedy?
2. The general is portrayed as cheerful and courteous. Why might Sassoon choose to criticize him through irony rather than direct denunciation?
3. Consider the title “The General.” How does the lack of a personal name contribute to the poem’s universality and critique of military hierarchy?
4. What is the effect of the soldiers’ dialogue (“He’s a cheery old card”) on the reader’s understanding of class differences between officers and men?
5. Research the Battle of Arras and Sassoon’s military experience. How do these historical details illuminate the poem’s tone and imagery?
6. Compare “The General” with other anti-war poems by Sassoon, such as “Glory of Women” or “Base Details.” What stylistic or thematic continuities do you notice?
7. How might the poem’s brevity be part of its power? What does Sassoon achieve in seven lines that longer poems might not?
8. In what ways does Sassoon use understatement as a form of protest? How does subtlety heighten the poem’s moral outrage?
9. How does the poem reflect a soldier’s perspective on leadership, obedience, and blame during war?
10. Does the poem’s satire still resonate in modern depictions of leadership or institutional incompetence? Can you think of a contemporary parallel?

Journal Prompts

1. Describe your first reaction to the general’s cheerful greeting. Does it make you laugh, cringe, or feel angry? Why?
2. Reflect on the irony in the line “Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead.” How does this sudden tonal shift affect you as a reader?
3. Research Siegfried Sassoon’s “Soldier’s Declaration” (1917). How might his public protest against the war deepen your understanding of this poem?
4. Imagine you are one of the soldiers in the poem. Write a brief letter or journal entry describing your encounter with the general and your feelings about the attack.
5. Consider how the poem portrays leadership. What qualities define good leadership to you, and how do they contrast with the general’s behavior?
6. Compare the tone of this poem to that of Rupert Brooke’s patriotic “The Soldier.” How do their depictions of duty and sacrifice differ?
7. Sassoon uses humor to deliver his critique. Do you find the humor effective, or does it make the tragedy harder to bear? Explain your reasoning.
8. The poem ends with the soldiers’ deaths blamed on the general’s “plan of attack.” How does this blunt conclusion shape your understanding of accountability in wartime?
9. Reflect on how bureaucratic optimism (“cheery old card”) might exist today—in politics, education, or media. How does Sassoon’s critique extend beyond the battlefield?
10. Write a short creative response that reimagines “The General” in a modern context—perhaps as a scene in a different profession or era where authority fails those it leads.