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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


REMORSE by SIEGFRIED SASSOON

Poet Analysis

First Line: LOST IN THE SWAMP AND WELTER OF THE PIT
Last Line: OF DYING HEROES AND THEIR DEATHLESS DEEDS.'
Subject(s): SOLDIERS' WRITINGS; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

LOST in the swamp and welter of the pit,
He flounders off the duck-boards; only he knows
Each flash and spouting crash, -- each instant lit
When gloom reveals the streaming rain. He goes
Heavily, blindly on. And, while he blunders,
'Could anything be worse than this?' -- he wonders,
Remembering how he saw those Germans run,
Screaming for mercy among the stumps of trees:
Green-faced, they dodged and darted: there was one
Livid with terror, clutching at his knees...
Our chaps were sticking 'em like pigs ... 'O hell!'
He thought -- 'there's things in war one dare not tell
Poor father sitting safe at home, who reads
Of dying heroes and their deathless deeds.'




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