The poems gathered here, which trace the course of the First World War, are an extraordinary testimony to the almost unimaginable experiences of a combatant in that bitter conflict. Moving from the patriotic optimism of the first few poems ( ...fighting for our freedom, we are free ) to the anguish and anger of the later work (where hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists / Flounders in mud... ), there comes a point when the reality of trench-warfare and its aftershocks move beyond comprehension: Sassoon knows this, and it becomes a powerful element in his art. As a book, the images have a cumulative relentlessness that make it almost impossible to read more than a few poems in one sitting.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Probably the best single collection by any individual British poet of the First World War in terms of consistency and sustained quality. Sassoon is detailed and moving in his depictions of the horrors of trench warfare, but equallly ferocious in his attacks on the British establishment who encouraged and supported the tactics which led to mass slaughter. A passionate and moving anti-war collection of poems! Check out our other books at www.dogstailbooks.co.uk

This new edition of poems draws from poems published during and shortly after the First World War by Siegfried Sassoon. Also included are several early poems showing his early naïve ignorance of the terrible reality of war, prior to the death of his brother in 1915 and his experiences at the front, and later Sassoon's A Soldier's Declaration, which marks his break with the military authorities. Such was the uproar caused by his statement, which was read aloud in parliament and published in The Times in 1917, that he was afterwards diagnosed with shell shock and incarcerated in a hospital, where he continued to write and met Wilfred Owen. Poems included in this edition are:AbsolutionA Letter HomeThe HeroThe Poet as HeroThe GeneralAttackCounter-AttackThe Rear-GuardWirersThe Humbled HeartPrelude: The TroopsDreamersHow to dieThe EffectA Soldier's DeclarationThe FathersLamentationsSuicide in the trenchesDoes it matter?Fight to a finishEditorial ImpressionGlory of womenTheir frailtyThe Hawthorn TreeThe InvestitureTrench DutyBreak of dayTo any dead officerSick leaveBanishmentSong-books of the warThrushesAutumnInvocationRepression of war experienceThe TriumphJoy BellsRemorseDead MusiciansThe DreamIn BarracksConscriptsTogetherSurvivorsEveryone SangThe book also includes a new introduction by Kenneth Grant introducing the reader to Sassoon's world and tracing the progress of his poetry from naive patriotism on the eve of war to something darker.