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World Was ONE Poetry
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Siegfried Sassoon was an English poet and novelist. Born on the 8th of September 1886 in Brenchley, Kent. Sassoon came from an affluent family. After studying at Cambridge, he was able to live without a profession and devoted his time to hunting, riding, cricket and as we all know to poetry. His poetry is based on his experiences, as an officer in World War I. When war broke out, Sassoon was eager to enlist but quickly began to hate the war after he began to witness the atrocities that were taking place. He volunteered and joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers. In 1916 Sassoon took part in the murderous opening of the battle of the Somme and won the military cross while he was still in the army, but later in his anger he threw it in the River Mersey. Sassoon was twice wounded seriously while serving as an officer in France. His anti-war protests were first attributed to shellshock, and as they could not do away with him due to his status, he was sent to Craiglockhart hospital where he met his good friend and fellow pacifist Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen, as well as Sassoon was one of the most famous poets of the twentieth century. He was the son of a railway worker and was educated at Liverpool. His devoted mother encouraged his early interests in music and poetry. As Owen could not afford a college education he went to France and taught English until 1915. Owen made the difficult decision to fight in the war. He enlisted in 1915, was commissioned in 1916 and fought in the battle of the Somme. Owen was hospitalised in craiglockhart hospital in May 1917 diagnosed with shellshock. In craiglockhart hospital Owen and Sassoon met. Owen had read Sassoon’s poems and was greatly impressed by them. One day Owen plucked up the nerve and decided to visit him. Sassoon recalls “one morning…there was a gentle knock on the door and a young officer entered…he had come hoping that would be so gracious as to inscribe them for him… I must have spoken mainly about my book… he listened eagerly with reticent intelligence”. Sassoon shared the same feelings as Owen and became interested in his work. Reading Sassoon's poems and discussing his work with Sassoon revolutionised Owens style and his conception of poetry. Under Sassoon’s care Owen began writing the best work of his short career. It is amazing how the two came from two extremely different backgrounds but still had the same thoughts, feelings and interests. In 1918 Sassoon returned to active service. He was sent first to the middle east and then to France. On patrol, he was shot and wounded by one of his own men. Fortunately he escaped from the front and lived on until 1967. Owen, however returned to Paris and was killed a week before Armistice Day. Owen was awarded the military cross for serving the war with distinction. Full recognition as a highly esteemed poet came after Owens’s death. Owens attitude to the war is very clearly shown in his work. In “Dulce et Decorum est” Owen tells the reader about the effect of gas. He makes comparisons to the “devil sick of sin” and “froth corrupted lungs”. His passionate expression of out rage is very clearly shown. In “Exposure” Owen talks about how the cold winter is worse than the enemy fire. Owens poems are full of anger and pity at those innocent young soldiers that die such cruel deaths. Even though he received the military cross he hated the war and its effects.
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