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From The Times
June 27, 2009

Siegfried Sassoon: the poetry of strife without reason

Jean Moorcroft Wilson: Commentary

Of all the First World War poets, Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) is not only the most accessible but also the most pivotal, illustrating changing attitudes to the war as it unfolded.

When war was declared on August 4, 1914, Sassoon had already enlisted. The death of his brother in the Dardanelles, his departure for the Western Front and his meeting with another war poet, Robert Graves, in France were all factors in his conversion from fervent patriot to fierce critic of the war.

Sassoon’s return to England in July 1918 with a head wound coincided with the publication of his second collection of war poems, Counter-Attack, which contained many of his most effective satires.

He still plays a vital role in our understanding of the First World War. His overall importance is best summed up by a friend, who wrote to him the year before he died: “To me you are a 20th-century portent: you have summed up in your personal experience the war-tortured, spiritually bewildered, blindlyseeking men of our times.”

Related Links

Dr Wilson is author of Siegfried Sassoon: the Making of a War Poet and Siegfried Sassoon: the Journey from the Trenches

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