And those 68 words were probably more influential than all the millions of words analysing decisions made by the military chiefs. Siegfried Sassoon was a brave and extraordinary man: his father was a cultured Jewish financier and sculptor, his mother was from an upper-class artistic English family. He led the life of a country gentleman — hunting, playing cricket, writing and collecting books — until he joined the Sussex yeomanry, aged 28, in He won awards for his courage, but while convalescing from war wounds, he penned a ferocious attack on the conduct of the war, which he came to believe was cruelly prolonged, and atrociously wasteful of men's lives.
Sassoon's poetry told the bleak truth, though with humanity. The Hero is about a mother's pride that her son died with valour — whereas in truth, Jack's death was ghastly. Sassoon observes suicide in the trenches from terrible despair which the "smug-faced crowds I died in hell — They called it Passchendaele His most shocking poem was named Atrocities.
It followed his discovery that German prisoners-of-war had been illicitly killed. Sign in with Facebook Sign in options. Join Goodreads. It hurts my heart to watch you, Deep-shadow'd from the candle's guttering gold; And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder; Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head You are too young to fall asleep for ever; And when you sleep you remind me of the dead. Share this quote:. Like Quote. Recommend to friends.
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Jul 28, AM. Siegfried Sassoon, the second of the three sons of Alfred Ezra Sassoon — and his wife, Georgiana Thornycroft Sassoon — , daughter of Thomas Thornycroft was born on 8th September at Weirleigh , near Brenchley in Kent.
Alfred Sassoon was a wealthy Jewish businessman but he died of tuberculosis when Siegfried was a child and he and his brothers were brought up by their mother and her talented family both her parents were artists. Siegfried later recalled he had a lonely childhood: "As a consequence of my loneliness, I created in my childish day-dreams an ideal companion who became much more of a reality than such unfriendly boys as I encountered at Christmas parties".
Sassoon was educated at Marlborough College and Clare College. It was while he was at Cambridge University that he realised he was an homosexual and had a serious sexual relationship with a fellow student, David Cuthbert Thomas.
He left without a degree and for the next eight years lived the life of a country gentleman. He spent his time hunting, playing sports and writing poetry. Published privately, Sassoon's poetry made very little impact on the critics or the book buying public. While in France he met the poet, Robert Graves , and the two men became close friends. Four months later, his former boyfriend, David Cuthbert Thomas, was killed in France. Considered to be recklessly brave, Siegfried Sassoon acquired the nickname "Mad Jack".
In June he was awarded the Military Cross for bringing a wounded lance-corporal back to the British lines while under heavy fire. Later he was unsuccessfully recommended for the VC for capturing a German trench single-handedly. After being wounded in April , Sassoon was sent back to England. Sassoon had grown increasingly angry about the tactics being employed by the British Army and after a meeting with Bertrand Russell , John Murry Middleton and H. Massingham , he wrote Finished With War: A Soldier's Declaration , which announced that "I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
Instead of the expected court martial, the under-secretary for war declared "A breach of discipline has been committed but no disciplinary action has been taken, since Second Lieutenant Sassoon has been reported by the medical board as not being responsible for his action, as he was suffering from nervous breakdown. During his three months there he made two important friendships: the psychologist and anthropologist W.
Rivers , and the young poet Wilfred Owen , whom he encouraged and helped, and worked with on the hospital's literary journal, The Hydra. Sassoon suggested that Owen should write in a more direct, colloquial style. Until he met Sassoon his few war poems had been patriotic and heroic. Under the influence of Sassoon his thoughts and style changed dramatically. The two men had been introduced a year earlier, but this was the first time they got together alone.
This is written after the first really intimate evening together. Was this when they first made love? The relationship with Shaw ended amicably. Richards noted that their correspondence reflected affection and respect.
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