Charles Sorley

Charles Sorley was a Scottish poet of the First World War, known for his unsentimental and reflective war poetry. His work, published posthumously, captures the disillusionment and tragic waste of the conflict with a stark clarity. Biography ↓More ↓

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Poems

Charles Sorley

Such, Such Is Death

Such, such is Death: no triumph: no defeat: Only an empty pail, a slate rubbed clean, A merciful putting away of what has been. And this we know: Death is not Life, effete, Life crushed, the broken pail. We who have seen So marvellous things know well the end not yet. Victor and vanquished are a-one in death: Coward and brave: friend, foe. Ghosts do not say, "Come, what was your record when you drew breath?" But a big blot has hid each yesterday So poor, so manifestly incomplete. And your bright Promise, withered long and sped, Is touched, stirs, rises, opens and grows sweet And blossoms and is you, when you are dead.

Biography

Charles Sorley was a Scottish poet who served as a captain in the British Army during the First World War and died at the Battle of Loos in 1915. His poetry is characterized by a sober acceptance of death and a deep questioning of patriotic rhetoric, often contrasting the natural world with the mechanized violence of war. Sorley's language is direct and understated, avoiding the romanticism of earlier war poets, and his imagery frequently draws on landscapes and the common soldier's experience. His most famous poem, 'When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead', remains a powerful anti-war statement. Though his output was small, his work, collected in 'Marlborough and Other Poems' (1916), has earned him a respected place among the war poets of his generation. His ability to convey the futility and sorrow of war without sentimentality has influenced later readers and writers.

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