Siegfried Sassoon – Biography of Siegfried Sassoon

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The english poet Siegfried Loraine Sassoon He was born on September 8, 1886 in Kent. His father was a member of a family of Jewish merchants, originally from Iran and India, and his mother belonged to the Thorneycroft family of artists. Sassoon He studied at Cambridge University, but dropped out without obtaining his degree. He later lived the life of a gentleman, hunting and playing cricket, while publishing small volumes of poetry.

In May 1915, Sassoon he was commissioned into the Welsh Fusiliers and traveled to France. There he impressed many with his courage at the front and was given the nickname ‘Mad jack‘for his almost suicidal exploits. He was awarded twice. His brother Hamo died in November 1915 in Gallipoli.

In the summer of 1916, Sassoon he was sent to England to recover from a fever. He returned to the front, but was wounded in April 1917 and returned home. His encounters with prominent pacifist distinctions, including Bertrand Russell, had reinforced his growing disillusionment with the war, and in June 1917, he wrote a letter that was published in the Times, in which he said that the war was being deliberately and unnecessarily prolonged. by the government. As a decorated war hero and published poet, his letter sparked public outrage. It was thanks to his friend and fellow poet Robert Graves, who convinced the authorities that Sassoon He suffered from war neurosis, which prevented him from being court-martialed. He was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh for treatment.
There he met, and was greatly influenced, by Wilfred Owen. Later, both returned to the front, where Owen died in 1918. Sassoon he was then sent to Palestine and then returned to France, where he was wounded again, spending the rest of the war in England. Many of his war poems were published in “The old huntsman“(1917) and”Counterattack“(1918).

After the war Sassoon He spent a brief stint as literary editor for the Daily Herald before traveling to the United States, touring the country far and wide, on a speaking tour. He then began to write the almost autobiographical novel “Memoirs of a fox hunter“(1928). It was an immediate success, and was followed by others, including”Memoirs of an infantry officer“(1930) and”Sherston’s Progress“(1936).

Sassoon He had had a series of homosexual relationships, but in 1933 he surprised many of his friends by marrying Hester Gatty. They had a son, George, but the marriage broke up after World War II.

He continued to write prose and poetry. In 1957, he was received into the Catholic Church. He died on September 1, 1967.