2. Background
● Born 19 May 1895 in Aberdeen, Scotland
● Studied at Marlborough College, Oxford, and the University of Jena in
Germany before returning to Britain
● Volunteered for the army, quickly rose up the ranks
● Died 13 October 1915 in Hulluch, France
● Described as ¨one of the three poets of importance killed during the war¨.
● Sorley is regarded as one of the greatest losses of poets killed in the war.
● His last poem was recovered from his kit, and these were the famous lines:
o When you see millions of the mouthless dead
o Across your dreams in pale battalions go
3. WAR and his death
● After Britain declared war on Germany, Sorley was detained for an
afternoon in Trier, Germany (where he studied).
● Luckily, he was released on the same day and told to leave the
country.
● He then 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 twenty.
● Sorley was killed in action near Hulluch, where he was shot in the
head by a sniper at the Battle of Loos on 13 October 1915.
5. To Germany, -Poem
You are blind like us. Your hurt no man designed,
And no man claimed the conquest of your land.
But gropers both through fields of thought confined.
We stumble and we do not understand.
You only saw your future bigly planned,
And we, the tapering paths of our own mind,
And in each other's dearest ways we stand,
And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind.
When it is peace, then we may view again
With new-won eyes each other's truer form
And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm
We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain,
When it is peace. But until peace, the storm
The darkness and the thunder and the rain.
6. Poem Analysis- language
● Despite borned in England, Charles studied in Germany and must’ve made a
connection with this country.
● He knows that British propaganda saying all Germans are evil is wrong and knows
that both sides of men in trenches have the same feeling, fear and confusion.
● We can see this fact from the poem’s first section, saying, “You are blind like us,
your hurt no man designed. And no man claimed the conquest of your
land. But gropers both through fields of thought confined. We stumble
and we do not understand…”
7. Continued Analysis
● The poem itself is trying to express that wars are really useless and are
simply just confused and afraid men fighting each other for something they
don’t even really known what it is.
● “And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind.” Charles explain
that after these futile wars, peace will return and all the wars will have
been just like a joke, writing, “We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at
the old pain,”
● Charles demonstrates that the bewilderment of soldiers on either sides and
say how wars are so cruel and macabre like the darkness and thunder rain-
“But until peace, the storm. The darkness and the thunder and
the rain.”
8. Poem Analysis- text
● Rhyme- For almost all ending sentences, the words rhyme with the last
word, two sentences above. For example, confined-defined; plan-
understand; mind-blind etc.
● Repetition- Charles continues and repeatedly uses the word “And”
before each sentence.
● Personal pronoun- The words “WE” and “YOU” is often used, so that
the poem is strengthened.
● Metaphor- Charles describes the war as a dark thunderstorm, “But until
peace, the storm. The darkness and the thunder and the rain.”
9. When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead -
Poem
When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you'll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should
they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears
flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, "They are dead." Then add
thereto,
"Yet many a better one has died before."
Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass,
should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore.
10. Poem Analysis
● The poem is written in present tense, so that readers
have a sense of actually being in the war and look upon
a field of dead men.
● The poem is said to a soldier, saying that they should
not mourn for the dead, and avoid pity because they
cannot hear you anymore.
● It describes the harsh reality of war, with most of the
soldiers beloved or dead no longer alive or captured.
11. Poem Analysis (continued)
● Charles Hamilton Sorley was a battle hardened captain in the
British army, and had likely seen lots of death and war,
therefore he might become indifferent to death and realize
that no amount of mourning could bring his dead friends
back, for they are already dead.
● The title, “When you See Millions of the Mouthless Dead”
builds anticipation and interest in the poem.
● It also paints a vivid image of what is happening in the wars
with millions of soldiers now “mouthless”.
● “Mouthless” may mean powerlessness, as they are unable to
speak or have their voices heard.
12. Poem Analysis - Techniques
● 2nd person - the poem is written in the second person,
with the author telling the reader what is going on, and
what they do.
● Rhyming - makes the poem more catchy and easy to
remember, like a song. (ex. dead, said; go, so)
● Imperative - tells you what to do, a feeling of instruction
and action. (ex. Say only this…)
● Rhetorical questions - makes you think about the
question? (ex. It is not curses heaped on each gashed
head?)
