“To Any Dead Officer”: A Study of the War Poetry of Siegfried Sassoon
31
Prior to the Battle of the Somme Although he was neither well known nor held in very high acclaim, Sassoon had had some poetry published prior to World War I. His most notable work, The Daffodil Murderer, was published in 1913. While satirical in nature, “The Daffodil Murderer” and some of his other pre-war poems, such as “Hyacinth” and “Amyntas,” were pastoral pieces.2 In light of the strong nationalism throughout England and much of Europe, it is not surprising that on August 1, 1914, the day Germany declared war on Russia, Sassoon was the first of the British War Poets to join the army.3 Sassoon first joined the Sussex Yeomanry because he loved and wanted to stay with his horse. His love of horses was well known, and in September he was asked to temper an officer’s new horse. While doing so, the horse threw Sassoon, and he suffered a badly broken arm.4 This break caused him to miss deportation to France with the rest of his unit, and he remained in England. In May of 1915, Sassoon made 2nd Lieutenant and decided to switch regiments. Through connections he had made, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers. The Royal Welch Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, 7th Division of the British 4th Army5 was a distinguished unit within the British Army and had fought in all the major battles of World War I up to that point.6 His transference to the Royal Welch Fusiliers coincided with Robert Graves’ enlistment. Robert Graves, also a published poet prior to the war though not well known, proved to have a strong influence upon Sassoon. When Sassoon and Graves met, Graves was already writing about the ugliness of the war and encouraged Sassoon to do the same. Graves was attempting to demonstrate the ugliest side of the war, while Sassoon was still painting it as a glorious endeavor. Indeed, when Sassoon finally reached the front in 1916, he described himself at the time as a “happy warrior.” This belief may have been a false one, a belief that he himself pro-
weller
The First World War affected many different aspects of society, including literature. In particular, an especially large group of poets expressed their feelings about the war. In the British Army alone there were many talented poets who had their work regarding the war published, in some cases post mortem. Some of the more famous British War Poets, as they came to be known, were Isaac Rosenberg, Wilfred Owen, Charles Sorley, Rupert Brooke, and Edward Thomas, all of whom died during the war. Although both Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves lived through the conflict and continued to write, it was Sassoon who became well known for his verse. A detailed study of Sassoon’s verse written during and after the war reveals a shifting view in his attitudes: prior to the battle of the Somme he wrote in favor of the war, during the post-Somme/Craiglockhart period he wrote against it, and following the war he wrote against all war in general. Later in his life, however, during World War II, his views shifted once again, ultimately making a full circle.1
aegis 2004
Nathan Weller
