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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MEMORY by SIEGFRIED SASSOON

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN I WAS YOUNG MY HEART AND HEAD WERE LIGHT
Last Line: AND SILENCE; AND THE FACES OF MY FRIENDS.
Subject(s): NATURE; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;
WHEN I was young my heart and head were light,
And I was gay and feckless as a colt
Out in the fields, with morning in the may,
Wind on the grass, wings in the orchard bloom.
O thrilling sweet, my joy, when life was free
And all the paths led on from hawthorn-time
Across the carolling meadows into June.

But now my heart is heavy-laden. I sit
Burning my dreams away beside the fire:
For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;
And I am rich in all that I have lost.
O starshine on the fields of long-ago,
Bring me the darkness and the nightingale;
Dim wealds of vanished summer, peace of home,
And silence; and the faces of my friends.




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