Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1916) from The Letters of Charles Sorley, 1919. . Courtesy Internet Archive.
Charles Hamilton Sorley (19 May 1895 - 13 October 1915) was a Scottish poet killed in World War I.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Sorley was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of Janet (Smith) and William Ritchie Sorley.
He was educated, like Siegfried Sassoon, at Marlborough College (1908-1913). At Marlborough, Sorley's favourite pursuit was cross-country running in the rain, a theme evident in many of his pre-war poems, including "Rain" and "The Song of the Ungirt Runners".
Before taking up a scholarship to study at University College, Oxford, Sorley spent a little more than 6 months in Germany, 3 months of which were at Schwerin studying the language and local culture. Then he enrolled at the University of Jena, and studied there up to the outbreak of World War I.[1]
War service[]
After Britain declared war on Germany, Sorley was detained for an afternoon in Trier, but released on the same day and told to leave the country.[2]
He returned to England and volunteered for military service, joining the Suffolk Regiment. He arrived at the Western Front in France as a lieutenant in May 1915, and quickly rose to the rank of captain at the age of 20.
Sorley was killed in action near Hulluch,[1][3] where he was shot in the head by a sniper at the Battle of Loos on 13 October 1915.[2]
Writing[]
Robert Graves, a contemporary of Sorley's, described him in his book Goodbye to All That as "one of the three poets of importance killed during the war". (The others were Isaac Rosenberg and Wilfred Owen.) Sorley was regarded by some, including the Poet Laureate John Masefield (1878-1967), as the greatest loss of all the poets killed during the war.
Sorley may be seen as a forerunner of Sassoon and Owen, and his unsentimental style stands in direct contrast to that of Rupert Brooke. Sorley's last poem was recovered from his kit after his death, and includes some of his most famous lines:
- When you see millions of the mouthless dead
- Across your dreams in pale battalions go [...]
Recognition[]
Sorley's only collection was published posthumously in January 1916 and immediately became a critical success, with 6 editions printed that year.
His Collected Letters, edited by his parents, were published in 1919.
On November 11, 1985, Sorley was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. The inscription on the stone was written by Wilfred Owen. It reads: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."[3]
In popular culture[]
The last 2 stanzas of Sorley's poem Expectans expectavi were set to music in 1919 by Charles Wood; this anthem for choir and organ quickly established itself in the standard repertoire of Anglican cathedrals and collegiate churches.
It Is Easy To Be Dead by Neil McPherson, a play on Sorley's life based on his poetry and letters, was presented at the Finborough Theatre, London, and subsequently at Trafalgar Studios, London, in 2016 where it was nominated for an Olivier Award.[4] It subsequently toured to Glasgow and Sorley's birthplace, Aberdeen, in 2018.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Marlborough, and other poems. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1916.
- Selected Poems. London: Ernest Benn, 1931.
- Collected Poems (edited by Jean Moorcroft Wilson). London: Cecil Woolf, 1985. ISBN 0-900821-53-1
- Death and the Downs: The poetry of Charles Hamilton Sorley (edited by Brett Rutherford). Providence, RI: Yogh & Thorn Books, 2010.
Collected editions[]
- Poems and Selected Letters (edited by Hilda D. Spear). Dundee, Scotland, UK: Blackness Press, 1978.
Letters[]
- Letters from Germany and the Army (edited by W.R. Sorley). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1916.
- Letters of Charles Sorley: With a chapter of biography (edited by W.R. Sorley & Janet Smith Sorley). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1919.
- Collected Letters (edited by Jean Moorcroft Wilson). London: Cecil Woolf, 1987.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]
"When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead" by Charles Sorley
Poems by Sorley[]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Osborne, E.B. The New Elizabethans. NY: John Lane Company, 1919.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Prose & Poetry - Charles Hamilton Sorley, First World War.com. Retrieved on 21 August 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Poets of the Great War. Retrieved on 21 August 2009.
- ↑ The Guardian, 21 June 2016
- ↑ Search results = au:Charles Hamilton Sorley, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 27, 2015.
External links[]
- Poems
- 5 poems by Sorley: "The Song of the Ungirt Runners," "Autumn Dawn," "All the Hills and Vales Along," "Two Sonnets"
- Sorley, Charles Hamilton (1895-1915) - 5 poems (All the Hills and Vales Along, Barbury Camp, Expectans Expectavi, The Song of the Ungirt Runners, To Germany, When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead) at Representative Poetry Online
- Charles Hamilton Sorley at PoemHunter (12 poems)
- Prose & Poetry - Charles Hamilton Sorley
- Audio / video
- Charles Sorley poems at YouTube
- Books
- Charles Sorley at Amazon.com
- About
- Charles Sorley at Spartacus Educational
- Charles Hamilton Sorley at FirstWorldWar.com
- Charles Hamilton Sorley at Find a Grave
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