Sassoon the Poet
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he poetry of Siegfried Sassoon divides itself intotwo rough classes--the idyllic and the satiric. Warhas defiled one to produce the other. At heartSiegfried Sassoon is an idealist. Before the war he had hardly published a line. Hespent his summers in the company of books, at thepiano, on expeditions, and in playing tennis. Duringwinter he hunted. Hunting was a greater passion withhim than poetry. Much of his poetry celebrated theloveliness of the field as seen by the huntsman in theearly morning light. But few probably guessed thatthe youth known to excel in field sports excelled alsoin poetry. For, in its way, this early poetry does excel.It was characteristic of him that nearly every littlebook he then wrote was privately printed. Poetry wasfor him just something for private and particularenjoyment--like a ride alone before breakfast. Amongthese privately printed books are Twelve Sonnets(1911), Melodies, An Ode for Music, Hyacinth(all 1912). The names are significant. He was occupiedwith natural beauty and with music. In 1913 hepublishes in a limited and obscure edition Apollo inDoelyrium, wherein it seems that he is beginning tofind a certain want of body and basis in his poemsmade of beautiful words about beautiful objects.Later in the same year, with Masefield's EverlastingMercy (1911), Widow in the Bye Sheet (1912) andDaffodil Fields (1913) before him, he starts to write aparody of these uncouth intrusions of the sorrows ofobscure persons into his paradise but half way throughthe poem adopts the Masefield manner in earnest [Footnote: I had this from his own mouth.] and finishes by unsuccessfully endeavouring to rival hismaster. In 1914 the War breaks out. Home on leavein 1915 he privately prints Discoveries, a little bookwhich contains some of the loveliest of his 'paradise'poems. In 1916 the change has come. He can hardlybelieve it himself. 'Morning Glory' (privately printed)includes four war poems. He has not definitelyturned to his later style but he hovers on the brink.The war is beginning to pain him. The poems 'ToVictory' and 'The Dragon and the Undying' show himturning toward his paradise to see if its beauty can savehim ... The year 1917 witnesses the publication ofThe Old Huntsman. [Footnote: 'The Old Huntsman,' Dutton & Co., 1918.] This book secured instantaneous success.Siegfried Sassoon, on its publication,became one of the leading young poets of England.The book begins with the long monologue of a retiredhuntsman, a piece of remarkable characterisation.It continues with all the best of the 'paradise'poems, including the loveliest in 'Discoveries' and'Morning Glory.' There are also the 'bridge' poemsbetween his old manner and his new such as the 'ToVictory' mentioned above. But interspersed amongthe paradise poems are the first poems in his final warstyle. He tells the story of the change in a characteristicmanner--Conscripts (page 51, 'The Old Huntsman').For like nearly every one of the young English poets,he is to some extent a humourist. His humour is not,however, even through 'The Old Huntsman' allof such a wise and gentle tenor. He breaks out intolively bitterness in such poems as 'They,''The Tombstone Maker' and 'Blighters.'
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