 Poetry: May 27, 2015 Issue [#7014] |
  Poetry
This week: Siegfried Sassoon Edited by: Stormy Lady  
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This is poetry from the minds and the hearts of poets on Writing.Com. The poems I am going to be exposing throughout this newsletter are ones that I have found to be, very visual, mood setting and uniquely done. Stormy Lady
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Dreamers
by Siegfried Sassoon
Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.
I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.
Butterflies
by Siegfried Sassoon
Frail Travelers, deftly flickering over the flowers;
O living flowers against the heedless blue
Of summer days, what sends them dancing through
This fiery-blossom’d revel of the hours?
Theirs are the musing silences between
The enraptured crying of shrill birds that make
Heaven in the wood while summer dawns awake;
And theirs the faintest winds that hush the green.
And they are as my soul that wings its way
Out of the starlit dimness into morn:
And they are as my tremulous being—born
To know but this, the phantom glare of day.
On September 8, 1886 Alfred and Theresa welcomed their son Siegfried Loraine Sassoon into the world. Siegfried's parent both came from a wealthy families. The family lived in a mansion named "Weirleigh.” Siegfried was the eldest son and had two younger brothers Michael and Hamo. The boys grew up fox hunting, playing cricket and golfing. When Siegfried was still very young his parents separated. When he was around ten years old his father passed away from Tuberculous.
Siegfried attended school at several institutions and stopped just shy of getting his degree. He began writing his poetry at a fairly young age and once out of school, he privately published his work. "Twelve Sonnets," was printed 1911, followed by "Poems," that same year. "An Ode for Music," "Hyacinth: An Idyll" and "Discoveries," were all privately printed over the next few years. As Siegfried wrote his poetry and privately published he lived off his small family fortune until his Aunt passed away leaving him a large inheritance.
With rumors of Great Britain and Ireland declaring war on Germany, Siegfried enlisted in the army. On August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany. Siegfried received a Military Cross for bringing back a wounded soldiers. During another battle with heavy fire, Siegfried wasn't so lucky and ended up getting wounded himself. After his injury he wrote a letter stating his distaste for the war and that the government was prolonging it. Thankfully for Siegfried sake fellow poet Robert Graves expressed his belief that Siegfried was suffering from shell shock and instead for being court-martialed for his protest he was hospitalized. During his time in the army and while hospitalized, Siegfried wrote and published many poems, "The Redeemer," in 1916, "To Any Dead Officer," in 1917 and "The Old Huntsman and Other Poems," that same year. In 1918 he published "Dutton, Counter-Attack" and "Other Poem"s and "Four Poems." "The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon," was published 1919.
Siegfred did not want to romanticize war In his writing. He often wrote about the darkness and brutality of war. After leaving the military Siegfried lived in Oxford for some time and did some traveling meeting up with fellow poets and literary types. Siegfried married Hester Gatty who was quite a bit younger than himself in 1933. The couple had one child together, George. Sadly their marriage failed and the couple separated. Siegfried battle with his need to be isolated and his desire for companionship for many years. Siegfried wrote many other works during his later years in life. He died on September 1 1967, one week short of his 81st birthday, it is said he lost his battle with cancer.
A Whispered Tale
by Siegfried Sassoon
I’d heard fool-heroes brag of where they’d been,
With stories of the glories that they’d seen.
But you, good simple soldier, seasoned well
In woods and posts and crater-lines of hell,
Who dodge remembered ‘crumps’ with wry grimace,
Endured experience in your queer, kind face,
Fatigues and vigils haunting nerve-strained eyes,
And both your brothers killed to make you wise;
You had no babbling phrases; what you said
Was like a message from the maimed and dead.
But memory brought the voice I knew, whose note
Was muted when they shot you in the throat;
And still you whisper of the war, and find
Sour jokes for all those horrors left behind.
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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The winner of "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] is:
Love's Dark Memory
Love she had thought was locked away,
its key forever lost
returned to her and brought dismay
through tears shed at great cost.
He had been gone for many years,
forgotten was his touch;
but once again it reappears
its darkness, hurts so much.
She wonders, 'will I be released,
no more to feel this pain;
a sadness that has never ceased,
how long will it remain?'
The time has come to say goodbye
to love's dark memory,
for now she knows and can't deny,
alone she'll ever be.
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Good luck to all 
