Sassoon was a decorated war hero of WWI who became one of the best known (anti-)war poets of the time. Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon are the two most highly regarded, and I have to say that I prefer Sassoon. His poetry is full of irony, dark humor, haunting imagery, and heart-breaking narratives. The honesty in his portrayal of the savagery and brutality of war is awe-inspiring. This is his most famous collection (or so I would assume, as it contains two of his best-known poems).

"Dreamers" is the most famous in the collection. At least, I would guess so, since it is the most common in multi-author collections, both war-themed and un-themed. It is a good introduction to his style and approach to the topic of war. "Base Details" is another of the better-known poems from the collection and is a snarky but bleak sort of piece that I liked immediately.

"The Rear-Guard" is my favorite poem in Counter-Attack and Other Poems. It is brutal and stunning and savage and beautiful. It was the first poem to take my breath away and make me fall in love with Sassoon. I stumbled upon it in a 100ish year old "Modern" poetry book from WWI era. It unsettled me. I read it over and over and over. I kept finding my way back to it for weeks. It is a haunting sort of piece.

I can honestly say that I love every single poem in this collection, but here are a few others that might be of interest (aside from the title poem, which is obviously noteworthy):

"Dead Musicians"
"How to Die"
"Suicide in the Trenches"
"Survivors"
"Their Frailty"
"To Any Dead Officer"

If you are interested in reading the collection, don't waste your money. It is public domain now. You can read the entire book here: http://www.bartleby.com/136/

The kindle version is also free.

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Created Sep 06, 2015 at 1:52pm • Submit your own review...