The General and other poems: First world war poetry by Siegfried Sassoon
About this book
This new edition of poems draws from poems published during and shortly after the First World War by Siegfried Sassoon and offers a unique insight into his evolution as a poet with an introduction on his wartime experiences which prompted him to write his famous Soldier's Declaration and tracing the progress of his poetry from naive patriotism on the eve of war to something darker. As well as his most well known war poems, several early poems are included illustrating his early naïve ignorance of the terrible reality of war, prior to the death of his brother in 1915 and his experiences at the front, and then the full text of Sassoon's A Soldier's Declaration, which marks his break with the military authorities. Such was the uproar caused by his statement, which was read aloud in parliament and published in The Times in 1917, that he was afterwards diagnosed with shell shock and incarcerated in a hospital at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh, where he continued to write and where he was to meet, and greatly influence, the young Wilfred Owen. Poems included in this edition are: Absolution A Letter Home The Hero The Poet as Hero The General Attack Counter-Attack The Rear-Guard Wirers The Humbled Heart Prelude: The Troops Dreamers How to die The Effect A Soldier's Declaration The Fathers Lamentations Suicide in the trenches Does it matter? Fight to a finish Editorial Impression Glory of women Their frailty The Hawthorn Tree The Investiture Trench Duty Break of day To any dead officer Sick leave Banishment Song-books of the war Thrushes Autumn Invocation Repression of war experience The Triumph Joy Bells Remorse Dead Musicians The Dream In Barracks Conscripts Together Survivors Everyone Sang