Siegfried+Sassoon

Emily Gillikin Siegfried Sassoon was born on September 8, 1886 in Matfield, Kent. His father was Jewish and his mother was an Anglo-Catholic. He had two brothers named Hamo, and Michael. His parents seperated when he was only four years old. In 1895, his father died of tuberculosis, which left him feeling sad and alone.

When Siegfried was old enough to attend college, he attended Malborough School, and then Clare college. He then decided to attend Cambridge University, but dropped out and moved out tp the country. He spent the next eight years doing things like cricket and writing poetry. He also tried to publish his poetry privately for money. He only had one successful poem called "The Daffodil Murderer".

When World War I started, he enlisted as soon as he could but had to wait until his broken arm healed due to a horseback riding accident a few days before. Siegfried's brother, Hamo died in Gallopoli fighting against the Axis Powers while Siegfried was waiting for his arm to recover. This made Siegfried very emotional and he didn't join the army that year. In 1915, he enlisted again in the Royal Fusiliers on the Western Front. He traveled to France as an officer and met a poet named Robert Graves. They wrote poetry in their small spare time and then reviewed what they wrote. War in the trenches was a huge influence for the poems.

//** Why do you lie with your legs ungainly huddled, **// //** And one arm bent across your sullen, cold, **// //** Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch you, **// //** Deep-shadowed from the candle's guttering gold; **// //** And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder; **// //** Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head... **// //** You are too young to fall asleep for ever; **// //** And when you sleep you remind me of the dead. **//
 * //The Dug-Out//**

He got the nickname "Mad Jack" because of his suicidal risks. He recieved a Military Cross for his service. He took a break from the military because of the gruesome events he witnessed. When the war worsened, he was supposed to report back to duty. He wrote the "The Soldier’s Dedication" to his commanding officer. This "letter" criticised England for it's involvment in World War I. It sent him to Craiglockhart Hospital and he was treated for "shell shock". He met a poet named Wilfred Owen in the hospital. Siegfried helped him write the book //Anthem for the Doomed Youth.// They both returned to France and Owen died while Siegfried got shot. He was taken back to the hospital for his new wound.

After World War I, he worked as an editor on the Daily Herald. He went on a lecture tour of Europe and America. He also traveled to Wales and published a poem called "At the Grave of Henry Vaughan" that was inspired by his favorite poet, Henry Vaughan. He published //Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man// in the United States//,// which won the 1928 James Tait Black Award for fiction. His other publications included //Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, Sherston's Progress// and his three part autobiography that were titled //The Old Century, The Weald of Youth, and Siegfried's Journey.//

Siegfried married Hester Gatty in 1933 and his first child was born the same year. In 1945, they divorced because they couldn't get along and the bickering over his girlfriends. In 1951, he became the Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Towards the end of his life, he converted to Roman Catholism. Siegfried Sasson died a week before his 81st birthday in 1967. He is burried at St. Andrew's Church in Mells, Somerset.



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