Analysis of The Poet as Hero

Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)



You've heard me, scornful, harsh, and discontented,
Mocking and loathing War: you've asked me why
Of my old, silly sweetness I've repented--
My ecstasies changed to an ugly cry.

You are aware that once I sought the Grail,
Riding in armour bright, serene and strong;
And it was told that through my infant wail
There rose immortal semblances of song.

But now I've said good-bye to Galahad,
And am no more the knight of dreams and show:
For lust and senseless hatred make me glad,
And my killed friends are with me where I go.
Wound for red wound I burn to smite their wrongs;
And there is absolution in my songs.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEFGG
Poetic Form Shakespearean sonnet 
Metre 1111010010 1001011111 11110101010 11111101 1101111101 1001010101 0111111101 11010111 111111110 0111011101 1101010111 0111111111 1111111111 011010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 619
Words 114
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 159
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

35 sec read
94

Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC was an eminent English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. He later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy". more…

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