Unlike his more famous fellow war poets, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon survived the First World War. In this collection of 64 poems, first published in 1920, Sassoon portrays the dehumanizing horror of modern warfare with its staggering death toll, while also satiring the jingoistic fervour of politicians and armchair strategists.

Sassoon's own war service fell into two distinct periods. The first was marked by a number of heroic actions on the battlefield which earned him the Military Cross. However, after a period of convalescence in 1917, Sasson became a pacifist and refused to return to active duty. This change of attitude was diagnosed as a psychological disorder and he was posted to Ireland where he trained new recruits. By the end of the war he had been promoted to captain. For the rest of his long life he remained staunchly anti-war.

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