Siegfried Sassoon was an English poet and novelist known for his anti-war poetry criticizing the conduct of World War I. He enlisted in the war and was seriously wounded twice while serving as an officer in France. His most notable works included a trilogy of fictionalized autobiographies describing his experiences as "George Sherston" from boyhood through the war's end. As a war poet, his works like "The General" and "Suicide in the Trenches" criticized the war's conduct and costs. After brave actions in combat, Sassoon decided in 1917 to publicly protest how the war was being run.

1. SIEGFRIED SASSOON AS WAR
POET
Presented by Bhavna Sosa

2. ◦ Presentation Topic : Siegfried Sassoon as War Poet
◦ M.A.Sem – 2
◦ Paper no. 110 : History of English Literature From 1900 to
2000
◦ Roll number : 02
◦ Enrollment no. 4069206420210034
◦ Email id : bhavnasosa211@gmail.com
◦ Submitted to : S.B. Gardi Department of English MKBU

3. Introduction
◦ He was born in Sept,8,1886
◦ He was English poet and novelist
◦ Known for his anti-war poetry and for his fictionalized
autobiographies,praised for their evocation of English counry
life
◦ Sassoon enlisted in World War l and was twice wounded
seriously while serving as an officer in France.

5. Education :
◦ Sassoon was educated at The New Beacon Preparatory
School,Kent Marlborough College in Wiltshire, and at Clare
College, Cambridge.
◦ where he studied both law and history from 1905 to 1907.

6. Notable Works :
Prose :
◦ The three volumes that described the experiences of a
fictional “ Sherston” from boyhood up to the armistice of
1918.
◦ Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man
◦ Memoirs of an Infantry officer
◦ Sherston’ s Progress

7. ◦ Now , reissued in one volume as The Complete Memoirs at
George Sherston (Faber and Faber)
◦ These books are a remarkable exercise in the
autobiographical mode

8. Poems :
◦ The Daffodil Murderer
◦ The Hero
◦ They
◦ Glory of Women
◦ The General
◦ Counter-Attack
◦ Suicide in the Trenches

9. The Memoirs of a Fox- Hunting Man :
◦ The Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man carries the epigraph “
This happy breed of men, this little world.”
◦ It does indeed confine itself,for three quarters of its length
within the narrow limits of the literary territory staked out by
Robert Smith Surtees

10. In Memoirs of an Infantry Officer:
◦ In Memoirs of an Infantry officer Sherston struggles to
achieve recognition among soldiers as he once did among
fox hunters, “ six years before,” writes Sassoon,
◦ “ I had been ambitious of winning races because that had
seemed a significant way of demonstrating my equality with
contemporaries. And now I wanted to make the World War
serve a similar purpose,for it only I could get a military cross
I should feel comparatively safe and confident.”

11. ◦ The publication of Siegfried’s Journey in 1945 cast a new
retrospective light on the trilogy.
◦ Especially the last part of it, for in this book writing in his own
person covers again the ground from 1916 to 1918. This time
he writes as a Poet and discusses the composition to his
poems the reaction to their publication, the hardening of his
resolve to make his protest.

12. War Service :
◦ Motivated by patriotism, Sassoon joined the military just as
the threat of World War I was realized and was in service with
the Sussex Yeomanry on the day the United Kingdom
declared war.
◦ He broke his arm badly in a riding accident and was put out
of action before even leaving England, spending the spring of
1915 convalescing.
◦ At around this time his younger brother Hamo was killed at
Gallipoli; Hamo’s death hit Siegfried very hard.

13. ◦ Sassoon’s periods of duty on the Western Front were marked
by exceptionally brave actions, including the single-handed
capture of a German trench in the Hindenburg Line.
◦ He decided in 1917, to make a stand against the conduct of
the war.

14. Citation :
◦ Britannica, The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia. "Siegfried Sassoon". Encyclopedia
Britannica, 14 Apr. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/facts/Siegfried-Sassoon.
◦ Knox, Bernard. “Siegfried Sassoon.” Grand Street, vol. 2, no. 4, 1983, pp. 140–51,
https://doi.org/10.2307/25006541. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.
◦ https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Siegfried_Sassoon
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