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The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

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I do not read much poetry, but for various reasons I wanted to read some of the British WWI poets because I knew they didn't mince words about the horror of infantry combat. Sassoon does not disappoint. His poems drip with bite, sarcasm, and some bitterness, but at the same time they are elegantly rhymed and the images are powerful. War is nasty business, not glorious, and it is also stupid. WWI was the end of innocence and the poets who wrote of their war experiences brought home the irony of that innocence in the face of the devastation that was wrought. A sample will help.

Stand-to: Good Friday Morning

I'd been on duty from two till four. I went and stared at the dug-out door. Down in the frowst I heard them snore. "Stand to!" Somebody grunted and swore. Dawn was misty; the skies were still' Larks were singing, discordant, shrill; They seemed happy; but I felt ill. Deep in water I splashed my way Up the trench to our bogged front line. Rain had fallen the whole damned night. O Jesus, send me a wound to-day, And I'll believe in Your bread and wine, And get my bloody old sins washed white!

This collection includes the notes that Sassoon added as commentary on some of his poems. On the above poem Sassoon notes: "I haven't shown this to any clergyman. But soldiers say they feel like that sometimes."

This is poetry that grabs you and moves you, but it is a particular genre, not for everyone's taste. If one purpose of poetry is to allow us to see through some of life's darker experiences, then this collection is well worth your reading and reflection.

I admit I am not one much for poetry, but ever since I read Martin Gilbert's THE FIRST WORLD WAR, which was replete with poetry written in the heat of battle, I've learned that verse is one of the most effective ways for a combat veteran to communicate the experiences of war. Siegfried Sassoon's aptly-titled WAR POEMS, compiled by Rupert Hart-Davis, is less a book of poetry than a guided tour through the muck, duckboards and barbed wire of No Man's Land.

Sassoon was a paradox as a human being. A sensitive and cultivated man and a world-famous poet when still in his twenties, he was also a ferocious fighter on the battlefield, dubbed "Mad Jack" by his men and a holder of the prestigious Military Cross. Disenchanted by the wastage and slaughter he had experienced, in 1917 he wrote a denunciation of the war and was promptly shut up in an asylum in Craiglockhart, Britain, where he composed many of the poems that appear in this book. Later he returned to the front and was shot in the head, but survived and enjoyed a prolific and diverse writing career, somewhat annoyed (as Hart-Davis tells us) that he had gone down in history as a "war poet." Reading this book, however, it is easy to see why.

Hart-Davis has arranged the 111 poems in chronological order, so that the reader can follow Sassoon's emotional journey from a naive young subaltern filled with a quasi-religious sense of mission (in 1915) to an embittered, half-delirious veteran driven to the edge of his sanity by relentless horror. And truly his poems run the range of emotions, from the mundanities of trench life ("A Working Party"; "In An Underground Dressing Station") to the moments before the ball went up ("Before the Batlle") to fury of combat itself ("Counter Attack") and its aftermath ("Died of Wounds"). Every aspect of the war is discussed, from war-fever to cowardice, from the bungling and incompetence of generals to the bluster of civilians back in England. Sometimes he's filled with rage and grief; other times with admiration and pathos (as with "Remorse", his paen to German prisoners run through with bayonets after an attack). But always there's the keen intelligence, the gift for words, the startling ability to convey image in just a few syllables, that mark the true genius-writer. See "The General:"

"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

As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both with his plan of attack.

Of course quoting from the best of the WAR POEMS would fill 30 pages, so I'll leave you with the words of "Base Details."

If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,

I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base,

and speed young heroes up the line to death.

You'd see my puffy petulant face,

Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,

Reading the Roll of Honor, "Poor young chap."

I'd say -- "I used to know his father well;

Yes, we lost heavily in this last scrap."

And when the war is done and youth stone dead,

I'd toddle safely home and die -- in bed.

I vaguely remembered Sassoon's poetry from one of my English Lit courses in college, and at the time, I left m class with the nagging feeling that I should have actually read the guy's poetry instead of slacking off (and not just because it would be on the final exam--my professor made it sound really interesting). So, when I saw that there was a free version available for the Kindle, I saw my chance to set things right, as it were.

However, the results were mixed at best. Sassoon's poetry is indeed powerful, but the power in the Kindle edition is neutered by the bizarre decision to ignore any line breaks. This not only makes the poetry more difficult to read; it makes it more difficult to interpret, since poets are as careful with their meters as they are with their vocabulary.

In other words, shell out the money for a paper edition, which will probably treat Sassoon's work with the respect it deserves.

I cried when I read these poems. For the first time, I read words that told the truth of war. ALL war. Not bugles, glory and parades, but Blood, pain, muck, outrage at stupidity and all but certain DEATH. This book should be required reading in all high schools, both for the perfection of the poetry, and its truth.

I have no illusions: War and Country are eternal. Young men and women will march off into eternity as long as there are human beings.

At least if they read this magnificent poetry, they will know what they are getting into....

"Look up, and swear by the green of the Spring that you'll never forget."

Of the three famous WWI poets, Wilfrid Owen was the most descriptive and brutal, and Rupert Brooke was the featherweight who nevertheless summed up the entire experience when war first broke out by saying "Well, if Armageddon's on, I suppose one should be there."

Between them was Siegfried Sassoon, the only one to survive the war. While he started in the same style of patriotic lyricism as Brooke (in poems such as France, Brothers and To Victory) he quickly became disillusioned and his poems became a testament to his life-long hatred of war. The most bitter and ironic among his poems targeted two enemies: the generals back at H.Q. (summed up best in Base Details and The General) and the complacent civilian population still blithely cheering back home (See "Blighters," "They," Glory of Women...Or just the end of Suicide in the Trenches). Beyond those, there were dozens of other poems taking an elegiac view of the lives lost and the pointlessness inherent in the cause.

Among Americans, World War One is forgotten. We had hardly anything to do with the conflict and suffered no cataclysmic losses from it. It was primarily this forgetfulness that prompted me to pick up Sassoon's verses and add the first world war to my landscape of history. Now I'm reading all the literature I can find on the topic. It's draining, but isn't that what the best poets, and the best writers do? They open a door you didn't know was there and make you feel. War literature from any era is necessary reading for those very reasons, this slim volume among them.

this review is for the kindle version and is mot commentary om the work itself.

at first i didnt realize i was in the poetry. there were no line breaks except between stanzas. if it werent for the capitals where a new line should have been i would have been hopelssly lost.

review written from my kindle.

Like his poems, this book is short, to the point, and well worth reading. Highly recommended

Reading Sassoon's war poems is a trying experience that sears the soul. If you ever thought being a soldier would be a glorious experience, these poems will disabuse you. But you will also be entranced - I think that is the right word - by the music of the language. Sassoon does not have the incredible rhythms of Kipling or Tennyson. His Poetry is more in keeping with post-expressionism, word pictures that stay with you for a long time. It is a little like seeing Picasso or Kandinski when you are used to Rembrandt or Turner.

There's no question that Siegfried Sassoons's is the finest of the World War I poetry. How the poems are presented to the reader is A PROBLEM. Publishers employ "lick and a polish" guys who excell at slight touch-ups to a graphic design that enables the corporation to double the book price. THIS BOOK."THE WAR POEMS OF SIEGFRIED SASSOON",COSTS TOO MUCH. If Sassoons poems were the value for the money, hooray. But we're not paying the money to Sassoon. Sassoon has been dead for half a century. Sassoon does not, therefore, benefit from the high cost of the publication. Poems: GREAT. book: OVER-PRICED.