Siegfried Sassoon

1
Siegfried Sassoon

• 1886-1967

• His father part of a Jewish merchant family
  originally from Iran and India
• His mother part of the artistic Thorneycroft
  family
• Studied at Cambridge University but left without
  a degree
• Grew up wealthy and privileged

2
Siegfried Sassoon

• May 1915 commissioned into The Royal Welsh
  Fusiliers and sent to France known for his
  bravery
• 1915 brother killed in battle
• Summer 1916 sent home to recover from fever.
  Returned to France shortly after
• 1917 near-fatal wound sent home to convalesce
• Growing disillusionment with the war
  deliberately and unnecessarily prolonged
• Wrote letter to The Times reflecting this opinion
  prevented from being court-martialled by friend
  and poet Robert Graves on the claim he had
  shell-shock

3
Siegfried Sassoon

• Sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh
  for treatment where he met Wilfred Owen
• The pair became close friends and an influence on
  one another
• Both men returned to the front Owen was killed
  in 1918 Sassoon, again wounded, returned to
  England for the remainder of the war

4
They (1917)

• The Bishop tells us 'When the boys come
  back'They will not be the same for they'll have
  fought'In a just cause they lead the last
  attack'On Anti-Christ their comrades' blood has
  bought'New right to breed an honourable
  race,'They have challenged Death and dared him
  face to face.'

5
They (1917)

• 'We're none of us the same!' the boys
  reply. 'For George lost both his legs and
  Bill's stone blind 'Poor Jim's shot through the
  lungs and likely to die 'And Bert's gone
  syphilitic you'll not find 'A chap who's served
  that hasn't found some change
• ' And the Bishop said 'The ways of God are
  strange!'

6
Key Notes

• FORM/STRUCTURE
• Two stanzas of six lines
• Narrative poem stanza one is the churchs
  opinion before the war, the second is the reality
  afterwards - satirical
• Call-and-response
• Stanzas mirror one another use of caesura for
  example

7
Key Notes

• THEME/SUBJECT
• Anti-war addresses distortion and realities of
  war churchs political stance

8
Key Notes

• LANGUAGE
• Relevance of title
• Dialogue
• Use of punctuation effect of exclamation mark?