Counter-Attack

De: Siegfried Sassoon

Narrado por: Phillip J. Mather

The narrator pledges to donate 50% of his proceeds to The Royal British Legion Poppy Day Appeal - please support. Siegfried Sassoon is one of the best-known of the plethora of First World War poets. His poem, "Counter-Attack", was published in 1918 in Counter-Attack and Other Poems and describes the horror of life in the trenches of the Western Front.

Public Domain (P)2014 Phillip J. Mather

War Is Not Glorious But Ugly, Sordid Business

If you could sum up Counter-Attack in three words, what would they be?

War Is Hell.

Who was your favorite character and why?

War is really the only character here, and it is ugly, brutal, disfigured and disfiguring. It clenches your stomach and twists. It deforms and sucks people dry. It strips of humanity and morals. All that is left is dust and blood and fear.

Have you listened to any of Phillip J. Mather’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This poem portrays war in all its ugliness while some of the other poems read by Phillip J. Mather focused on glory, patriotism, and liberty and urged men to fight harder. In this poem the only urge is to stay alive. For that you must kill. There is no glory in it.

I found Mr. Mather's narration on some of his other poems to be slightly better than on this one. However, the deepness of his voice and the emotive way he narrates gave this poem an extra dimension beyond the written word.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The imagery in this poem is magnificent. It is also very sad. The descriptions in the first stanza are chilling, especially when the poet describes the rotting dead with their green, lifeless legs.

Any additional comments?

A great poem to get an honest view of what war is really like in the battlefield.