Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
    The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
    The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon
    Ebook111 pages46 minutes

    The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

    By Siegfried Sassoon

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateOct 1, 2006
    Author

    Siegfried Sassoon

    Siegfried Sassoon was born in 1886 and educated at Clare College, Cambridge. He served in the trenches during the First World War, where he began to write the poems for which he is remembered. Despatched as ‘shell-shocked’ to hospital, he organised public protest against the war. His poetry initially met with little response, but his reputation grew steadily in the following decades.

    Read more from Siegfried Sassoon

    Related to The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jan 1, 2022

      Maybe every choice is in some way false,like whether to wonder or worry,or feel alive or alone in Clevelandor Memphis or any standard double queentrying to unwrap a tiny hotel soap.There’s always another one waitingin the dish like a stale communion

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Politics of Pinocchio

      Sep 12, 2022

      The Politics of Pinocchio
      5 min read

    • Article

      from BLACK PASTORAL

      Nov 1, 2023

      somewheres, some lifetimes ago I have run so far, so long.There is nowhere I haven’t beenBut here, in this field, a bodyLength from the ragged brinkThat gives way to forest.I collapsed here, the thin, hard slipOf me whittled at both ends.I want badly

      4 min read

    • Article

      You’re Not a Real Writer Until You Have Enemies: The Millions Interviews Karl Ove Knausgaard

      Oct 26, 2018

      “Many writers are very bad communicators in life, but they are great writers. The writers I know are fucked, wrecked, destroyed: Not all of them are aware of it themselves,” Karl Ove Knausgaard says, over a mid-afternoon glass of water at an Auckland

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Rails

      Dec 1, 2021

      The Rails
      1 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Mar 1, 2022

      leisure for the youth / housing for everyone homeless / fresh fruit in the trees & kitchens of every American / a belly full & living / land back—truly & in its truest form / reparations for all the land & promise Black America has been stripped of s

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ishion Hutchinson

      Jun 8, 2021

      Tremor in his hands. He turns obsoleteleaves edged with thunder since the opening scene.What he sees he reads under croton shade,out in the sun. Restless peninsula,dog-eared, melting off into the blue.The blue breaks white as hallucination,more hagga

      3 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Mar 1, 2022

      i look like someonehealing from an accidentbecause i am someonehealing from an accidentthe book of actsscales falling from saul’s eyesremembering my capacityfor stillnesshow long can i sitwithout looking awaythe fear of god escapingi desperately need

      3 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Sep 1, 2021

      Two Poems
      2 min read

    • Article

      On the Accidental Origins of Beloved Books

      Mar 29, 2017

      This week marks the 73rd anniversary of the time Astrid Lindgren, mother of two, fell down and sprained her ankle and decided well, why not spend the time she was laid up writing down the stories she’d been telling her ten-year-old daughter? It was i

      5 min read

    • Article

      Veneers

      Nov 1, 2021

      Like all good conquerors, the Burmese had the foresight to leave picturesque ruins. Americans find ruins fascinating because we fear being laid low, our great monuments atomized & tossed to the wind, our lawns left unruly, unkempt, untrimmed. The bud

      1 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Nov 1, 2021

      It is all, allover the earth, underearth, a graveyard: tree ferns, trees—roots,bark, seeds—ancientlife that emerged from the sea, forestsflooded to swamps& bogs, transformed to peat, transformedagain, sunk, coveredwith layers of earth with strangeamp

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Poetics Of everyday Life

      Oct 1, 2020

      The Poetics Of everyday Life
      7 min read

    • Article

      Redux: A Poem Is a Suitcase

      Apr 10, 2018

      Redux: A Poem Is a Suitcase
      1 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      May 1, 2023

      At the end of the world, I sat in the dark waiting for you,but you didn’t come. You didn’t save me. At the end we are always alone, candles slowlyburning out, losing the flame for lack of oxygen. You didn’t tell me it would be like this. All of itcam

      2 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems by ‘Antarah ibn Shaddād

      Jun 15, 2018

      My steeds live for War.My swords are not for show.My colt’s trained not to stopshort on the battlefield.My shield givesno cause for complaint. A slash of my saberclean as saltand off came ‘Amr’s nose! Between Qaww and Qārahthe troops flocked like gro

      1 min read

    • Article

      Enduring Myths

      Oct 29, 2020

      Jeremy Pound delves into the world of classical poetry to explore how Ovid’s Metamorphoses has inspired a wealth of composers over the centuries In 8 AD, the poet Ovid found himself in a bad place. Quite literally. Exiled by Emperor Augustus, he was

      5 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jan 1, 2022

      Two Poems
      2 min read

    • Article

      Conferences & Residencies

      Apr 14, 2021

      POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES application information for writers conferences, literary festivals, and residencies of interest to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators. Applications for the following events are due

      10 min read

    • Article

      Rage And Grief

      Sep 1, 2021

      All that matters is feeding the lake.I don’t matter. The lake matters.You must keep feeding the lake. —Jean Rhys There’s a goddess forme attended by two tall black dogsnamed Rage & Grief. You’re humiliated,just like this, wheneverthe familiar arrives

      1 min read

    • Article

      Under the Volcano

      Jul 3, 2018

      Under the Volcano
      5 min read

    Reviews for The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

    3.5/5

    2 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A collection of the poems Siegfried Sassoon wrote about World War I. Very thought-provoking in their observations of a war that Sassoon hated and yet felt compelled to support. A very sad commentary on war from the pen of a participant.Wonderful poems, though.
    • 3/5
      I am fascinated with Sassoon's World War I story, and hence I have turned to his poetry. His work, often an indictment of the conduct of the war, followed by the disillusionment of his post war poems make interesting and instructive reading.
    • 4/5
      Loved it - Sassoon is surgical in the precision with which he characterises human feelings and emotions, the futility of the war, its blind cruelty, and how in the end soldiers keep fighting because of the loyalty they feel to their companions also thrown in what is perceived quite clearly as a senseless butchery.

      There are so many verses to quote, so many striking poems that the only thing which makes sense is to read them all - however I found the one below incredibly prescient, and think it should be compulsive reading in all schools


      SONG-BOOKS OF THE WAR
      In fifty years, when peace outshines
      Remembrance of the battle lines,
      Adventurous lads will sigh and cast
      Proud looks upon the plundered past.

      On summer morn or winter’s night,
      Their hearts will kindle for the fight,
      Reading a snatch of soldier-song,
      Savage and jaunty, fierce and strong;

      And through the angry marching rhymes
      Of blind regret and haggard mirth,
      They’ll envy us the dazzling times
      When sacrifice absolved our earth.

    Book preview

    The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon - Siegfried Sassoon

    Project Gutenberg's The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon, by Siegfried Sassoon

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

    Title: The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

    Author: Siegfried Sassoon

    Release Date: January 22, 2005 [EBook #14757]

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR POEMS OF SIEGFRIED SASSOON ***

    Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

    THE WAR POEMS OF SIEGFRIED SASSOON

    1919

    LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

    Dans la trêve désolée de cette matinée, ces hommes qui avaient été tenaillés par la fatigue, fouettés par la pluie, bouleversés par toute une nuit de tonnerre, ces rescapés des volcans et de l'inondation entrevoyaient à quel point la guerre, aussi hideuse au moral qu'au physique, non seulement viole le bon sens, avilit les grandes idées, commande tous les crimes—mais ils se rappelaient combien elle avait développé en eux et autour d'eux tous les mauvais instincts sans en excepter un seul; la méchanceté jusqu'au sadisme, l'égoïsme jusqu'à la férocité, le besoin de jouir jusqu'à la folie.

    HENRI BARBUSSE.

    (Le Feu.)

    NOTE

    Of these 64 poems, 12 are now published for the first time. The remainder are selected from two previous volumes.

    CONTENTS

    I

    PRELUDE: THE TROOPS 11

    DREAMERS 13

    THE REDEEMER 14

    TRENCH DUTY 16

    WIRERS 17

    BREAK OF DAY 18

    A WORKING PARTY 21

    STAND-TO: GOOD FRIDAY MORNING 24

    IN THE PINK 25

    THE HERO 26

    BEFORE THE BATTLE 27

    THE ROAD 28

    TWO HUNDRED YEARS AFTER 29

    THE DREAM 30

    AT CARNOY 32

    BATTALION RELIEF 33

    THE DUG-OUT 35

    THE REAR-GUARD 36

    I STOOD WITH THE DEAD 38

    SUICIDE IN TRENCHES 39

    ATTACK 40

    COUNTER-ATTACK 41

    THE EFFECT 43

    REMORSE 44

    IN AN UNDERGROUND DRESSING-STATION 45

    DIED OF WOUNDS 46

    II

    THEY 47

    BASE DETAILS 48

    LAMENTATIONS 49

    THE GENERAL 50

    HOW TO DIE 51

    EDITORIAL IMPRESSIONS 52

    FIGHT TO A FINISH 53

    ATROCITIES 54

    THE FATHERS 55

    BLIGHTERS 56

    GLORY OF WOMEN 57

    THEIR FRAILTY 58

    DOES IT MATTER? 59

    SURVIVORS 60

    JOY-BELLS 61

    ARMS AND THE MAN 62

    WHEN I'M AMONG A BLAZE OF LIGHTS 63

    THE KISS 64

    THE TOMBSTONE-MAKER 65

    THE ONE-LEGGED MAN 66

    RETURN OF THE HEROES 67

    III

    TWELVE MONTHS AFTER 68

    TO ANY DEAD OFFICER 69

    SICK LEAVE 72

    BANISHMENT 73

    AUTUMN 74

    REPRESSION OF WAR EXPERIENCE 75

    TOGETHER 77

    THE HAWTHORN TREE 78

    CONCERT PARTY 79

    NIGHT ON THE CONVOY 81

    A LETTER HOME 83

    RECONCILIATION 87

    MEMORIAL TABLET (GREAT WAR) 88

    THE DEATH-BED 89

    AFTERMATH 91

    SONG-BOOKS OF THE WAR 93

    EVERYONE SANG 95

    I

    PRELUDE: THE TROOPS

    Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloom

    Shudders to drizzling daybreak that reveals

    Disconsolate men who stamp their sodden boots

    And turn dulled, sunken faces to the sky

    Haggard and hopeless. They, who have beaten down

    The stale despair of night, must now renew

    Their desolation in the truce of dawn,

    Murdering the livid hours that grope for peace.

    Yet these, who cling to life with stubborn hands,

    Can grin through storms of death and find a gap

    In the clawed, cruel tangles of his defence.

    They march from safety, and the bird-sung joy

    Of grass-green thickets, to the land where all

    Is ruin, and nothing blossoms but the sky

    That hastens over them where they endure

    Sad, smoking, flat horizons, reeking woods,

    And foundered trench-lines volleying doom for doom.

    O my brave brown companions, when your souls

    Flock silently away, and the eyeless dead,

    Shame the wild beast of battle on the ridge,

    Death will stand grieving in that field of war

    Since your unvanquished hardihood is spent.

    And through some mooned Valhalla there will pass

    Battalions and battalions, scarred from hell;

    The

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1