CHARLES HAMILTON SORLEY

CHARLES HAMILTON SORLEY

(geocities/Athens)

(1895-1915)

Charles Sorley was a British poet of World War I. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. Sorley volunteered for military service, joining the Suffolk Regiment. He quickly rose to the rank of Captain. Finally, he was killed in action, shot in the head by a sniper, at the Battle of Loos on October 13, 1915.

Sorley´s sole work was published posthumously in January 1916, and immediately became a critical success, with six editions printed that year. Sorley is regarded by some, including the Poet Laureate John Masefield (1878-1967), as the greatest loss of all the poets killed during the war. Despite the horrors of World War I, Sorley felt it had freed his spirit.

The poem we are going to comment is a sonnet that was found in the author’s kit sent home from France after his death and it is called “When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead”.

(wikipedia/Charles_Sorley)

           “WHEN YOU SEE MILLIONS OF THE MOUTHLESS DEAD”

                 When you see millions of the mouthless dead
                 Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
                 Say not soft things as other men have said,
                 That you'll remember. For you need not so.
                 Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know       5
                 It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
                 Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
                 Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
                 Say only this, "They are dead." Then add thereto,
                "yet many a better one has died before."                               10
                 Then, scanning all the overcrowded mass, should you
                 Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
                 It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
                 Great death has made all this for evermore.

(rpo.library/poem/

What is the sensation this poem offers?

The poem talks about the First World War and its consequences. In particular, this poem is concentrated on the dead people that were millions.

He looks at that people. The most important idea is "Mouthless dead" (line 1) that means that if you have no mouth you can not speak, you do not have the possibility of speaking, definitely, you can not express yourself.

Reality is not soft, “your dreams in pale battalions go” (line 2).

They died but nobody heard what they said, "say not soft things as other men have said" (line 3).

If you are mouthless it is not important to be dead, the important thing is that the dead can not speak, can not express what has happened.

The poets start putting into words the nightmare they are living. It is so irreal. That sensation is what the poem puts into words.

As we can see, the poet produces sentences as direct speech, which we call dramatic; as with the question “how should they know it is not curses heaped on each gashed head?” (Lines 5-6).

After saying that the dead can not speak, the poet tells us that we do not have to cry "nor tears" (line 7). There is no necessity of crying. The mentioned calculations are explained as follows; "their blind eyes see not your tears flow" (line 7), that means that why are you going to cry? If they are dead they can not see you, they can not perceive how you are feeling in these moments.

As well, the author emphasizes that there is no honour "nor honour" (line 8). The difficulty is to survive. To live is more difficult than to die.

That means that to live is more complicated because to live day by day is to risk yourself on every side, facing all what happens in life.

On the contrary, to die is easier, since it is the only last thing you do in life, the only way to finish your life. All we do in our lives is go towards death. It is to survive.

So, it is obvious that they are dead and they are not coming back. So, the poem says "say only this "they are dead". Then add thereto "yet many a better one has died before" (lines 9-10).

Then, reflecting more on this, the author makes us conscious that all the faces we see or we knew before, now they have disappeared, "Then, scanning all the overcrowded mass, should you perceive one face that you loved heretofore" (lines 11-12). So, if all the persons we knew have disappeared now they are "spooks" (line 13).

Therefore, "none wears the face you knew" (line 13), with this sentence the poet wants to say that all what we see "today" is different to all we saw "yesterday".

The final sentence is the most important one because it reflects how he is feeling in this precise moment and all “Death” has done is to end with all the essential things in life.

Finally, we have to add that they use poetry against War and this poem is a great reflection of what happened in these times of War. So this is a good example to understand the War, its consequences, and essentially the feelings around the dead people in the World War.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6732/ww1/files/p_sorley.html

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sorley. Last modified 21:06, 28 December 2005. Visited on April 1, 2006)

(http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1954.html

Copyright © 2005, Ian Lancashire.
Original text: Charles Hamilton Sorley. Marlborough and other Poems. 4th edition. Cambridge: University Press, 1919: 78 (no. XXXIV). PR 6037 O7M3 1919 Robarts Library
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 2:2002/3/20

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababbabacdcdcd

Visited on April 1, 2006)