Suicide in the Trenches
Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield) – 1967 (Heytesbury)
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.
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.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 24 sec read
- 337 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABB CCXX DDEE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 423 |
Words | 81 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
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"Suicide in the Trenches" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/34935/suicide-in-the-trenches>.
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