Siegfried Sassoon

Wilfred Owen's "Poems" offers a stark and unflinching look at the realities of war. As a soldier in World War I, Owen experienced firsthand the horrors of trench warfare, the ever-present specter of death, and the profound sense of loss that permeated the lives of those who fought. This collection of war poetry serves as a powerful testament to the physical and psychological trauma endured by soldiers during one of history's most devastating conflicts. Owen's verses capture the brutal conditions, the constant fear, and the erosion of humanity that defined the war experience. Through vivid imagery and unflinching honesty, "Poems" provides a timeless and enduring perspective on the human cost of war. This meticulously prepared print edition ensures that Owen's vital voice continues to resonate with readers, offering a poignant reflection on the enduring themes of conflict, sacrifice, and the search for meaning amidst unimaginable suffering.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC (8 September 1886 - 1 September 1967) was an English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy".

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC (8 September 1886 - 1 September 1967) was an English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy".

If there be any subject that can bring the multitudes to poetic expression it must certainly be war. This was definitely true of the First World War. Among its poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen most assuredly rank at the top. Winner of the military cross, English Captain Siegfried Sassoon's poetry is heralded for its brutal realism and its satirizing of overly patriotic pro-war rhetoric. Wilfrid Owen would meet his mentor, Sassoon, at the Craiglockhart War Hospital and follow in Sassoon's footsteps in lyrically relating the horrors of trench life. Owen died just one week before the final armistice. His poems come to us in several collected volumes, the first of which is included in this anthology. Further poems by Ivor Gurney, Isaac Rosenberg, Vera Brittain, Rupert Brooke, Alan Seeger, Robert Graves, Charles Sorley, Edgell Rickword, and others, are gathered here in this anthology. Together these poems provide a diverse perspective of the war seen through the eyes of the people who faced it in service to their country. In sharp contrast to the great loss which produced it, these lines stand as an enduringly beautiful testament to the war to end all wars. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

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At the dawn of World War I, Siegfried Sassoon exchanged his pursuits of cricket, fox-hunting, and romantic verse for army life amid the muddy trenches of France. The first English soldier-poet to achieve notoriety as an opponent of the war, he ranks among the conflict's most critical poetic voices. This collection of his epigrammatic and satirical poetry conveys the shocking brutality and pointlessness of the Great War. Many of these poems were written in the hospital while Sassoon recovered from wounds he received in battle. Their violence and graphic detail shocked readers, impressing upon them the horrors of trench warfare and the foot soldier's weariness of the never-ending struggle. "The dynamic quality of his war poems," observed the Times Literary Supplement, "was due to the intensity of feeling which underlay their cynicism." More than 80 of Sassoon's moving works are featured in this volume, including "Counter-Attack," "They," "The General," and "Base Details."

As I stepped over one of the Germans an impulse made me lift him up from the miserable ditch. Propped against the bank, his blond face undisfigured, except by the mud which I wiped from his eyes and mouth with my coat sleeve. He'd evidently been killed while digging, for his tunic was knotted loosely about his shoulders. He didn't look to be more than eighteen. Hoisting him a little higher, I thought what a gentle face he had, and remembered that this was the first time I'd ever touched one of our enemies with my hands. Perhaps I had some dim sense of the futility which had put an end to this good-looking youth. Anyhow I hadn't expected the Battle of the Somme to be quite like this.This first-hand account of the face of battle is as beautifully written as it is historically significant.

The poems gathered here, which trace the course of the First World War, are an extraordinary testimony to the almost unimaginable experiences of a combatant in that bitter conflict. Moving from the patriotic optimism of the first few poems (...fighting for our freedom, we are free) to the anguish and anger of the later work (where hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists / Flounders in mud...), there comes a point when the reality of trench-warfare and its aftershocks move beyond comprehension: Sassoon knows this, and it becomes a powerful element in his art. As a book, the images have a cumulative relentlessness that make it almost impossible to read more than a few poems in one sitting.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The poems gathered here, which trace the course of the First World War, are an extraordinary testimony to the almost unimaginable experiences of a combatant in that bitter conflict. Moving from the patriotic optimism of the first few poems (...fighting for our freedom, we are free) to the anguish and anger of the later work (where hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists / Flounders in mud...), there comes a point when the reality of trench-warfare and its aftershocks move beyond comprehension: Sassoon knows this, and it becomes a powerful element in his art. As a book, the images have a cumulative relentlessness that make it almost impossible to read more than a few poems in one sitting.

I can hear the creak of the saddle and the clop and clink of hoofs as we cross the bridge over the brook by Dundell Farm; there is a light burning in the farmhouse window, and the evening star glitters above a broken drift of half-luminous cloud. It is with a sigh that I remember simple moments such as those, when I understood so little of the deepening sadness of life, and only the strangeness of the spring was knocking at my heart.In the 1920s, a young man, grappling with the horrors of the war from which he had just returned, decided to write about a happier time. A time of cricket matches and fox-hunting, the busyness of village life and the shyness of youth.That man was Siegfried Sassoon, and this is his book. Originally published anonymously, it went on to become Faber & Faber's first bestseller. A classic depiction of pre-First World War Britain, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man tells two mirrored stories, about a boy coming of age and a country losing its innocence.