The literary digest . nd going to the office in the rain. This direct, passionate, combative vision of the poet pro-duces an art in sucli white heat of love, anger, and irony that itcools in tho words of the poems themselves, often to a roughsurface. Mr. Sassoon is too sincere, too willing to abide byhis vision to smooth this surface down into tho (complacentniceties of expression. A writer on Mr. Sassoons verse in the radical London NewAge thinks that the poet takes too mucli attention to himself, and his realistic descriptions are merely repulsive to thecivilian world. Because— Mr.
The literary digest . nd going to the office in the rain. This direct, passionate, combative vision of the poet pro-duces an art in sucli white heat of love, anger, and irony that itcools in tho words of the poems themselves, often to a roughsurface. Mr. Sassoon is too sincere, too willing to abide byhis vision to smooth this surface down into tho (complacentniceties of expression. A writer on Mr. Sassoons verse in the radical London NewAge thinks that the poet takes too mucli attention to himself, and his realistic descriptions are merely repulsive to thecivilian world. Because— Mr. Sassoon does not know how to touch the only facultyin us which would serve his purpose—the faculty, namely, ofimagination. A different method from, his would be neces-sary. Finally, the medium of verse subtracts from, rather thanadds to, the effect of Mr. descriptions. Such moodsas preA-ail in him are unfitted for verse altogether. They aremoods not of contemplation of past passion, but of experience of. SIEGFRIED SASSOON, A REALIST IN THE WAR. The uicubus of war is on liim so that his days are shot withanguish and his nights with terror. present passion. They need to be WTitten, if written at all, inprose vignettes, or in free rhythm, or in Whitmanese. Thocareful forms of regular verse suggest the A-ery contrary- of thofeeUng attempted to be conveyed in them; it is as if Mr. SassoonAvrote verses in a delirium. That there is something suspect inthis inconsistency may be taken for granted; and, indeed, Avehave the suspicion that before and after these personal ex-periences Mr. Sassoon is a very ordinary sort of person. Hewrites to-day of the; i>oliticians: And with my trusty bombers turned and wontTo clear those Junkers out of Parliament. But how Avill it be Avith him after the war? How was it withhim before the war? Break of Day is a poem that answersthe second question. It is a description of the rich mansfox-hunting, Avrittc^n Avithout the least suspicion of
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