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Sigfried Loraine Sassoon, the young English poet who has come into international prominence since the war, will speak at the Union on April 28 under the auspices of the Harvard and New England Poetry Clubs. Through the kindness of these two organizations all members of the Union have been invited to attend the lecture. Mr. Sassoon will read some of his own poems and talk on contemporary poetry, both British and American.
Before the war Mr. Sassoon was practically unknown as a poet, but in 1918, on the publication of "The Old Huntsmen," he suddenly became known as one of England's leading young poets. The war, changing his point of view and his style effected this sudden rise to fame.
Entered War as Private.
Mr. Sassoon enlisted as a private in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on August 3, 1914, and in the following five years, during which time he rose to the rank of captain, he served in both France and Palestine, was wounded three times and was decorated with the Military Cross.
One incident during the war in particular which brought him into the public eye was a letter written to his commanding officer wherein he said, "the purpose for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change it. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed." This letter became the subject of debate in the House of Commons in July, 1917.
From that time on his poetry began to show the change in his attitude. It changed from the lighter verse of his earlier years to his more satirical work of the present.
Mr. Sassoon is now in this country, giving lectures and readings from his poems.
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