Siegfried Sassoon: Poems

Personal life

Siegfried Sassoon's gravestone at St Andrew's Church, Mells, Somerset

Homosexuality and affairs

At Craiglockhart, Sassoon had met Wilfred Owen, another war poet. Numerous surviving documents demonstrate clearly the depth of Owen's love and admiration for him. Writing years after Owen died, Sassoon said that "W's death was an unhealed wound, & the ache of it has been with me ever since. I wanted him back – not his poems."[28] Despite sentiments expressed in numerous letters between Sassoon and Owen, there is no support for a physical relationship between them. Both men returned to active service in France, where Owen was killed in 1918.

As Sassoon matured, he had a succession of love affairs with men, including:

  • William Park "Gabriel" Atkin, the landscape architectural and figure painter, draftsman and illustrator[29]
  • Ivor Novello, actor[30]
  • Glen Byam Shaw, actor and Novello's former lover[31]
  • Prince Philipp of Hesse, German aristocrat[30]
  • Beverley Nichols, writer[30]
  • Stephen Tennant, an aristocrat[30]

Although Byam Shaw remained Sassoon's close friend throughout his life, only Tennant made a permanent impression.[31]

Introduced by the Sitwells in 1927, Sassoon and Stephen Tennant fell passionately in love, beginning a relationship which lasted nearly six years.[32] Tennant, however, had recurrent tuberculosis, and the strain which that put on their relationship had started to show by the early 1930s. In May 1933, Tennant, then receiving treatment at a sanatorium in Kent, abruptly broke off the relationship, informing Sassoon via a letter written by his physician that he never wanted to see him again. Sassoon was devastated.[33]

When he met his future wife Hester Gatty a few months later, he was still reeling from his break-up with Tennant. Sensing a sympathetic nature, Sassoon confided in Hester about their relationship and, at her suggestion, wrote Tennant a letter to put the past to rest.[34] While he and Tennant exchanged letters, telephone calls and infrequent visits in the years to come, they never resumed their previous relationship.[35]

Marriage and later life

In September 1931, Sassoon rented Fitz House, Teffont Magna, Wiltshire, and began to live there.[36] In December 1933, he married Hester Gatty (daughter of Sir Stephen Gatty), who was 20 years his junior, and soon afterwards they moved to Heytesbury House.

The marriage led to the birth of a child, something Sassoon had purportedly craved for a long time. Siegfried's son, George Sassoon (1936–2006), became a scientist, linguist, and author, and was adored by Siegfried, who wrote several poems addressed to him. Siegfried's marriage broke down after the Second World War, with Sassoon apparently unable to find a compromise between the solitude he enjoyed and the companionship he needed.

Separated from his wife in 1945, Sassoon lived in seclusion at Heytesbury in Wiltshire, but he maintained contact with a circle which included E. M. Forster and J. R. Ackerley. One of his closer friends was the cricketer Dennis Silk who later became Warden (headmaster) of Radley College. He also formed a close friendship with Vivien Hancock, then headmistress of Greenways School at Ashton Gifford House, Wiltshire, where his son George was a pupil. The relationship provoked Hester to make strong accusations against Hancock, who responded with the threat of legal action.[37]

Religion

In 1957, Sassoon converted to Catholicism.[38][39]

After a lifetime of grappling with questions of faith and spirituality, Sassoon made the decision to convert to Catholicism. His motivation for this conversion has been the subject of much speculation and analysis.[13]

While the exact reasons behind Sassoon's conversion to Catholicism can never be fully known, the convergence of intellectual exploration, aesthetic appeal, spiritual seeking, and the influence of figures like Ronald Knox provides a compelling framework for understanding his motivations. Sassoon's decision to convert represents an important chapter in his personal and spiritual evolution, adding depth and complexity to his already significant legacy as a poet and writer.[40]


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