The Goldsmith

Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)



This job’s the best I’ve done.’ He bent his head
Over the golden vessel that he’d wrought.
A bird was singing. But the craftsman’s thought
Is a forgotten language, lost and dead.

He sighed and stretch’d brown arms. His friend came in
And stood beside him in the morning sun.
The goldwork glitter’d.... ‘That’s the best I’ve done.
‘And now I’ve got a necklace to begin.’

This was at Gnossos, in the isle of Crete...
A girl was selling flowers along the street.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

26 sec read
86

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA CDDC EE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 492
Words 87
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 2

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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