Poetry Sassoon, Siegfried: The Old Huntsman and Other Poems. v1 28 Jan 2013

[AlexBell]

So far as I can tell the The Old Huntsman and Other Poems was the first book of Siegfried Sassoon's poems which was accepted by a major publisher, perhaps because some of the 'War Poems' had been published in various journals and had been praised by many of the soldiers on the Western Front. The book is in three main sections: 'The Old Huntsman' as a long stand alone poem; 33 'Lyrical Poems'; and 35 'War Poems'. The first few of these seem similar to the other poems, just set in a different locale. But 'The Redeemer,' the tenth poem, foreshadows darker themes, and from 'A Working Party,' the thirteenth poem, the horror, degradation, waste, and futility of war are fully exposed. The last poem, 'A Letter Home' is an elegy for a lover who died on the Western Front in 1916.

The poems in this ebook have been taken from www.bartleby.com, and have been checked against 'Collected Poems 1908-1956' published by Faber and Faber Limited. I have used their grouping of poems, but put the groups the order above.

I have done my best to honour the poet's margins and indents, but the poems are best read on an ebook in landscape orientation, or on an iPad. I really do not know how people read anthologies, so have put a link back to Contents after each poem. I would be very grateful for feedback on the layout of the poems and the links, and as always if you find any errors please let me know so I can fix them.