Traumatized Souls from the War

Somme, France 80200

Poems about death. Poems about suicide. Poems about war. Phew, I was wondering why all poems in the early twentieth century had to be so gloomy for the past week. Then I found a poem that is even more depressing than any of the poems above – a poem that deals with all of the themes above.

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy.....
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
And no one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

This poem by Siegfried Sassoon is a work from early twentieth century as well. Sassoon, a poet born in a wealthy British family, was a carefree writer whose works were all about optimistic view of the natural world. It was only after he went through horrible experiences of World WarⅠthat his writing style changed. Sassoon enlisted on the first day of World WarⅠ and was involved in the battle of the Somme in 1916, where he saw the horrible events in the trenches. He wrote this poem in 1917, right after his experience at the Somme.


This poem combines the themes of Jarrell’s the Death of the Ball Turret Gunner and Parker’s Resume. The boy, who is probably as young as ball turret gunners, can’t stand the trauma of the war and chooses to shoot himself. The people in the poem are ignorant of how cruel and horrible the war is; they don’t know how war rips apart “youth and laughter” of young soldiers.