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The Poetry of Siegfried Sassoon

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The Poetry of Siegfried Sassoon Durham E-Theses The poetry of siegfried sassoon Cumming, Deryck How to cite: Cumming, Deryck (1969) The poetry of siegfried sassoon, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10240/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE POEPRY OF SIEGPEIIED SASSOON Deryck Gtumning M.A. thesis University of Durham The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be. acknowledged. page Early Poems 1 II War Poems, 1915-1917 20 III Counter-Attack 64 IV Picture Show 102 V Poems of the Twenties 115 VI Poems of the Thirties 135 VII Poems of the Fifties I53 VIII Conclusion 167 Bibliography _Ch_cvpt_Gr_ On^ EAHLY POEflS Siegfried. S-J5soon "born in I8865 the cccond of thrrr sons of Alfred Ezrr, Sr.ssoon r,nd Thcrcsr. Geor^in", ^i^horneycroft. The Sassoons wcro the deEccndr.nts of a lone line of Pcrsi",n- Jewish noTchants r.nd br.nlicrs cstr^hlished in Tol-do r.nd B^-frcY-d in the Middle A^cs. This fcinily ccnc to ho laioim in c.ontcn;?or"ry tines r.s 'the Rothschilds of' the Er^.st' throU;[^2 their c^!nnorci;^l trcnsr.ctions ncinly C",rricd out in the Near Er.st. The religious orthodoxy of' 3ic{;^ricd S",ssoon's more remote rel"tions -.jid the cstrcncencnt of his fr.thoi- fron the fmily irerc pcrh:-,;^^ the rea.sons for his hardly knoTTing them; "Jthough, as a hoy, ho hoard rumours of Great-Uncles --Jho entertained the Sh"h of Porria or TTcro friends of the Prince of Wales. His nearest rclativ anonc the Enc:lish Sassoons Tras Aunt Raclielj editor of' The SwizC.-.-;^ Times and of The Obgcrvcr. Hoirevcr, -trith her invalid hp.cband and her austerely f.ashionahlc house in Ilairfair, described in Tho Old Gontury as "chilly", "sombre" and "eppressive" (l), Aunt Rachel was almost as remote as any of Sassoon'r paternal relations The O?horncycroft f"jnily i:as more familiar to the youn;: Siojjfried. Descendants fron aiicthcr old f'^jnily, his nearest 'relatives purcuoe. gu^'''^ erafts as ship-building' and sculpturcj 3'et their traditions uoro firmly rooted in the Eii^li^h cou-itry-ido. It i7as in this tradition and the atmosphorc of Ed^rardian; middle- class complacency that Siegfried {jrc^y up, shcl-lr^rcd fron h'.rd'rhi;'^ ard e'-iotio:i lly L.rpar^d-nt " i" artistic mother. His parents' narriaje T^as not a happy o?,'io^^ ho TTTI'^'^" i--' Tho Old Conturyt- V\vS t-"^ v^, Hr.d I "boon loess f".nciful .'^.nd iTritinj my OTm story, I Fhould hr.vc 'bGCu.n c.s folloTTs. 'Once upon tine there ''^c.s z hoy irho irr.s horn in Soptcnhcr 1886 r,t n. hotiso in Kent TThoro ho hcs lived ever since.'He ho.d tiro hrothcrs irho ircrc horn in I884 a^nd 1887, bat >Tc 0.11 hch?,vod r.s if vc ucrc the Sane r.gc • After I89I TTC did not see our father very often. Our mother iras unhappy hccausc he had gone away to live in London and Tjould not speak to her r.ny norc. (2) Bouts of illness in childhood heightened Sa.PE'oon's aesthetic response to his surroundings until ho believed, obovc all else, that he had the gifts of a poot.' In this belief and its conrnnucnt cjnbition he was supported by his nothdr irho "had a strong natornal feeling that I was destined to bcconc great poot."(3) ' - . In The Old Century, Sassoon describes her gentln cncouragcncnt of his youthful aspiration end the dovclopnent of his juvenile pocns: My oim poetical works... were beconing noticeably aloof from ordinary affairs. Ifhile remaining an optinist outwardly, I was a nost nnlancholy person when putting nysclf on paper. Eternity and the O'^onb were anong ny favourite thenes, and fron the accessories of death I drctr ny liveliest inspirations. Apart fron Posterity, the audience I add-ressed was ny nether, and I didn't want to disappoint her by being insipid and uninaginativc. (4) Hone was a havon for Sassoon as a child, whore he grcT: up able to indulge his poetic sensibilities. Schooling at Marlborough followed, and then Cambridge which he left Trithout hxl^'^^G. d a degree, finding the acadenic discipline of Law and then History arduous and unrelated to his over-riding interest in poetry. It was during his stay c.t university that Sassoon first sought a printer. His cr.rlBstE publications, printed in various copies of the nagazino Cricketwere nainly parodies of fanous pocns of which the thenes were rcpfclced by topical cricketing issues Such r,s the extra inch added to the stLiripg in I903, A schoolboy parody of Kingsley's Saiids of Doe that was printed in Seven More Years, begins; 0 batsnan go and stop the rot. (5) At Grxibridge he Tnrotc several fa,cotioLis pieces of doggerel on various subjccts,including "lovers allitoratively involved in a motor- accident, " (6) for incltision in the Cambridge nag".3ino, Grant a.. 'i-hc first publication of Bassoon's poems was in the form of a private printing by the Athenaeum Press in I906 which inaugurated 0. series of' similar printings during tho years that follo-':ed. In 1908, OrphcLis in Dilocrj^'un, An Episode was printed. It is described in The .Weald of Yoiith as "gn unactable one act play which had r.^B: quite nade Lip its mind TThethcr to bo Fa,tirical or cerioun." (?) This was followed in I9O9 by Sonnets and Versos, a nor'^ anhitiour voltine containing t]iirty-fotir -oocns. Throe of the thirty-oi^^^t ccoics isiiisi^^^ T7'"•??'• "r''/'-^'^nel'''' '^ri"i"cc' on hand—nadc 'napcr ^rhich later caused them to be preserved as the only record of thir printing when Sassoon destroyed the rest in a fit of despair. Of the poems Saesoon decided to presefve in later publications and in his Collected Peons, the earliest sonnet is Villon from Sonnets and Verses. This poem had already been printed inT.IT.H. Cro£fla,nd-'s magazine Tho Acad.emy in May, I9O9 (nodcstly signed 'S.S.'). Sassoon'n meetings T:ith the sly old reactionary, Crosland, were his first encounters with the literary irorld (for he had not pursued his family's aquaintanco with Edmund Gossc (8)) and arc amusingly recounted in The Weald, of Youth. (9) Crosland, as dijcd in the irool concornin/j poetry as TTonon's sujffrascj praised Bassoon's oarly poems for their "melodious refinement." Sassoon quotes a typical verse as an autobio^'rraphical closss Blind from, the i2Pblin-haiintcd ;::looms of nicht. Passion irith poisonous blossoms in her hair; Then, croimod v±th. rotted chaplctsj TTan Despairj And Folly, from base deeds in headlong flight... (lO) The poem Villon was subsequently published by tho author in Sonnets, 19095 TITQIVO Sonnets, 1911- and The Old Huntsman, 191?. It is the sole survivor from among the eighteen sonnets Of So?.inetr and Versos, which rather suggests its siiperiority to thom. Villon, the poet, is ejected from, prison in a condition drrcribcd by the author as "rathor more doi-m and out than usual." (ll) He is rescued and cherished by one 'i-rho docs not feel the general disgust at the mctched man's appearance. The incident prcstinably relates to Villon's banishment (for ton years) after torture by t'"-c Parlcment, 14^? at which point he disappears from history. The thom.o of Sa^ssoon's peon rerenbles that of the parable of the Good Samari-^an. Villon is even rejected by Lr.zarus ti'ho In noisome rags arrayed and leprous shame, Beside me set had seemed full si^oct and fair, And looked on mo with loathing. (l2) The voice of Villon, the first person of the poem, i'^ evidently'- issuing from the a^*yjc"hostel" to which he had been talten. The dignity and modulation of the linos and tho economy of the dcscri'^.+ : of' Villon's two co'secutivc st-i.tes (af+nr his ejection from th- dungeon) form tho two parts of the sonnet and support the inf^rr;nce that, by tho agency of tho anonymous "Samaritan", hi- future is to bo T'--'g'---nnr^ti"'"^ -^-Kij- hopefuls ' •/ The mortal stain of ny reputed sin. My state despised, and ny defiled TTccds, He hath put by as though they had not been. Of the other two survivors of S_ojanct_r aiid Verjpcs, the poem Arcady U;Thje_cdl_;ig ir one of the poomp- singled out for prai-e by Edward March, the editor of the scries of anthelogicr entitled Qeorgirjn Poetry. In 1913, in a letter to Sassoon criticising his poems, (iSj^ Marsh gave some sound ad.vice: It seem-s a necessity noTr to iTrito either with one's eye on an object or with one's mind at grips with a • norc or less definite idea, "^.uite a slight one irill suffice.
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