The War Poems

Siegfried Sassoon, who lived through World War I and died in 1967, is known as a war poet. This collection of his poems, arranged chronologically, traces the course of the war and offers an extraordinary testimony to a soldier's experiences. The poems range from patriotic optimism to the anguish and anger of trench warfare. Sassoon's verse is formally conservative, using traditional rhyme and metre to contain emotion and highlight irony. The poems depict the suffering of soldiers and critique the leadership's detachment and ruthlessness. Sassoon sensed that warfare would continue beyond this war, as reflected in his ironic and pessimistic tone.