Inspiration from the writing of others - Robert Graves

I first read "Goodbye to All That" by Robert Graves in the late 60s.  Here is the author. On the left, the pic shows Graves in WW1. The second pic must have been taken in Majorca, where he lived until his death in 1985.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One passage from "Goodbye to All That" has haunted me ever since I first read it. What makes the passage so powerful is understatement. This is achieved, in part, by the short, simple sentences and the almost complete absence of adverbs and adjectives. This passage does not need any. Graves relates the incident “as it was” and leaves it to the reader’s own imagination to do the rest. Graves knew that it is impossible for us to get our heads around the suffering and death of millions, and so, he describes the death of just one. Here is the passage.

“Sampson lay groaning about twenty yards beyond the front trench. Several attempts were made to rescue him. He was badly hit. Three men got killed in these attempts: two officers and two men, wounded. In the end his own orderly managed to crawl out to him. Sampson waved him back, saying he was riddled through and not worth rescuing; he sent his apologies to the company for making such a noise. At dusk we all went out to get the wounded, leaving only sentries in the line. The first dead body I came across was Sampson. He had been hit in seventeen places. I found that he had forced his knuckles into his mouth to stop himself crying out and attracting any more men to their death."

Graves also wrote the following poem “In memory of Captain A. L. Samson, 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, killed near Cuinchy, Sept. 25th, 1915.” Here are the first two verses.

We found the little captain at the head;
His men lay well aligned.
We touched his hand---stone cold---and he was dead,
And they, all dead behind,
Had never reached their goal, but they died well;
They charged in line, and in the same line fell.

The well-known rosy colours of his face
Were almost lost in grey.
We saw that, dying and in hopeless case,
For others' sake that day
He'd smothered all rebellious groans: in death
His fingers were tight clenched between his teeth.

The photos below show Captain Samson and his gravestone in France.

 

Comments

[Christopher Goddard]

Very interesting that you should post this, just as I have been finishing an article for my old boys' magazine - on its way to you by email.