Before the Battle

Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)



Music of whispering trees
Hushed by a broad-winged breeze
Where shaken water gleams;
And evening radiance falling
With reedy bird-notes calling.
O bear me safe through dark, you low-voiced streams.

I have no need to pray
That fear may pass away;
I scorn the growl and rumble of the fight
That summons me from cool
Silence of marsh and pool
And yellow lilies is landed in light
O river of stars and shadows, lead me through the night.

June 25th, 1916.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

24 sec read
151

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB DDEFFEE X
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 456
Words 83
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 7, 1

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…

All Siegfried Sassoon poems | Siegfried Sassoon Books

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