^^Mad Jack^^

Sassoon was one of the great poets from the horrors of World War 1. He was born on September 8th 1886 in Kent. Born into a reasonably affluent family, Sassoon was educated at Marlborough College and Clare College, Cambridge University where he studied Law and History. Nevertheless, he dropped out of university before graduating but discovered a love for poetry. Up until the outbreak of the war, Sassoon spent his time living a life of leisure – fox hunting, playing cricket and riding point-to-point. Encouraged by Edward Marsh to write poetry, Sassoon moved to London to immerse himself in literature. Though he was short of money and soon in debt, it was the type of  lifestyle experience that he was looking for.

However, the outbreak of World War 1 changed everything for Sassoon. He enlisted himself on August 2nd 1914. However, whilst training he suffered an accident riding a horse that resulted in a badly broken right arm, which delayed his move to the front. As soon as he recovered, he was given a commission in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in May 1915 and as a 2nd Lieutenant he served with both the 1st and 2nd Battalions. His poetry during this period he criticized in later life as being too patriotic and glorifying the war.

Sassoon was introduced to the full-blown horror of the war when his brother Gallipoli died in November 1915 as well as his good friend, David Thomas in March 1916.. However, instead of mourning over the two deaths the two deaths, Sassoon appeared  to have been maddened by revenge. He went out on patrol in No-Man’s-Land when no patrols were planned and such acts of recklessness led to him gaining the nickname ‘Mad Jack’ from his men. Sassoon wrote about longing to meet a German patrol and attacking it with grenades and cudgels.

Consequently, Sassoon was sent to the Fourth Army School for four weeks to help him calmed down from these revengeful antics. On the other hand,  he was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery and leadership in June 1916 for bringing back two British trench men who had been severely wounded in the raid of a German trench. 

In March 1919 after the war Sassoon resigned his commission and left the army.

The majority of his war poems commented on what life was like in England to those who were not experiencing the horrors of the war in France and Belgium. Moreover, he greatly criticized people who had used the war to make profit from the war.

Sassoon lived a long and resourceful life after the war writing his autobiography in six separate volumes which took around two decades to complete. He died in Heytesbury on September 1, 1967 aged 80.