Siegfried Sassoon - First World War Poet | Biographical Documentary

Рет қаралды 14,098

2 жыл бұрын

Siegfried Sassoon was a groundbreaking poetic voice who detailed the horrors of the First World War trenches like no one else. But did he have shell shock?
In this history documentary, we will look in depth behind the films "Benediction" and "Regeneration" to focus on Sassoon's troubled mental health. We will hear how he was decorated for conspicuous gallantry on the Western Front and injured several times, before publicly protesting about the war. The Army had to choose between court martialling him or sending him to a mental hospital to be treated for shell shock.
Find out what happened during his stay at Craiglockhart Hospital - was he silenced, was he cured, was there ever anything wrong with him?
Hear my views on what diagnosis he might be given if he were to be treated for his mental health today.
As always I’d love to hear your comments and any suggestions for new videos.
Warning: This video contains graphic historical medical images and terminology.
Books:
Pat Barker (1991): Regeneration, Viking Press.
Siegfried Sassoon (1936) Sherston’s Progress, Faber & Faber.
Siegfried Sassoon (1929) Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man, Faber & Faber.
Siegfried Sassoon (1930) Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, Faber & Faber.
Academic References:
Bourke, J. (2000). Effeminacy, Ethnicity and the End of Trauma: The Sufferings of ‘Shell-Shocked’Men in Great Britain and Ireland, 1914-39. Journal of Contemporary History, 35(1), 57-69.
Jones, E., & Wessely, S. (2005). Shell shock to PTSD: Military psychiatry from 1900 to the Gulf War. Psychology Press.
Jones, E., & Wessely, S. (2014). Battle for the mind: World War 1 and the birth of military psychiatry. The Lancet, 384(9955), 1708-1714.
Linden, S. C., Jones, E., & Lees, A. J. (2013). Shell shock at Queen Square: Lewis Yealland 100 years on. Brain, 136(6), 1976-1988.
Norgate, P. (1987). Shell-shock and Poetry: Wilfred Owen at Craiglockhart Hospital. English, 36(154), 1-35.
Schaupp, A. C. (2018). Repression and articulation of war experience: a study of the literary culture of Craiglockhart War Hospital. PhD Thesis, Edinburgh University.
Shay, J. (2014). Moral injury. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 31(2), 182.
Webb, T. E. (2006). ‘Dottyville’-Craiglockhart War Hospital and shell-shock treatment in the First World War. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99(7), 342-346.
Wessely, S. (2006). The life and death of Private Harry Farr. The RUSI Journal, 151(5), 60-64.
Copyright Disclaimer
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
Images
Wikimedia Commons
Imperial War Museum
National Portrait Gallery
Public Domain or used on Fair Use basis for education purpose
Music
Edward Elgar: Salut d’amor: Emanuel Salvador (violin) & Pau Casan (piano)
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 via IMSLP.
Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations, Nimrod: DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Schubert (conductor). Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0
Edward Elgar: Serenade for Strings: United States Army Strings.
Public domain via Wikimedia commons
Video produced by Professor Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.

Пікірлер: 77

@c.w.8200 2 жыл бұрын

My great grandfather was one of those men who were just left to their own devices after WWI. He was a broken man who treated his family cruelly and we consider him a source of multigenerational abuse and trauma. War damages so many people down the line, I wonder if even experts are fully aware of the true scale.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing CW, I don't think anyone was particularly interested in the long term consequences of war on people in those days.

@margaretkerr4591 Жыл бұрын

Same! My uncle used to hit my gran when he would drink spirits ( it seemed to take him back) he was also arrested for my grandmothers murder, and beaten up badly by police ( she hit her head on the brass doorknob when she fell) yet I used to love him when he wasn't drinking. He was soft spoken, very shy and brought his 2 year old daughter up without a mother. A good man, who could not live with his demons. I have nothing but sympathy for him ❤

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

A sad story, but at least he had your love.

@andreaandrea6716 2 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston Your comment makes me realize that we do, in fact evolve...(even though we seem to lose bits of the past that are valuable).

@malissahyatt2425 5 ай бұрын

I had no idea war poetry existed. Thank you for opening up a whole other realm of poems for me!!!!

@professorgraemeyorston 4 ай бұрын

Wow, yes do explore it along with the war painters like Sargent. It is powerful stuff.

@malissahyatt2425 4 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston Wow!!! I will. I'm getting ready to write a war story in November. So I'm interested.

@fredbeach2085 2 жыл бұрын

Sasoon shortly before the war was left £40,000 by an Aunt, roughly £2,000,000 in todays money, he was a very generous man and lavished gifts to his friends, lovers and men under his command, in the trenches he ordered a Fortnum and Mason`s Christmas hamper for all the men one Christmas in the war so they could have what he had. He was some guy.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Fred, he certainly was!

@ElkoJohn 11 ай бұрын

She kept crying and wouldn’t stop. Don't cry, I shouted! I've seen enough tears; tears from soldiers who've seen death too many times. Stop crying! I want just one moment of peace. From the depths of my pain, a wave of rage came over me. I felt it rise in me like the fever of combat, the hatred, the irrepressible desire to kill, to annihilate, like a fire sweeping through my body, my brain... I stopped, terrified, unable to control the urge to destroy, which had ravaged me. My hands twisted, greedy for carnage. To snap a neck, to plunge a bayonet into flesh, to turn a hail of machine-gun fire on someone... on everything that reminded me of this life, of everything I had lost, of all the invisible forces that had ransacked and trampled my existence. She was still sobbing. I stared at the woman, my eyes bulging. I felt my body tense, like a guitar string. Just a bit tighter, and it would snap. It's over. There's nothing left. Painfully, this idea crawled inside me, dislocating my muscles. My murderous rage had subsided, suddenly snuffed out. My dreams too. I was barren, emptied, broken. An abandoned train station. A lone rock in the middle of an ocean. I left her in the hut. No good-byes. No promises. When I left, it was in the middle of the night. Dogs barked somewhere in the distance. (pages 152-153, ''Novel Without a Name'' by Duong Thu Huong, a Viet Cong soldier)

@professorgraemeyorston 11 ай бұрын

War is a terrible thing.

@andreaandrea6716 2 ай бұрын

My father was a great admirer of Sassoon. Thank you for this documentary.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

@jwhend49 9 ай бұрын

Sassoon is among my favorite poets from the era of World War I. Thank you for providing informative insights into his life.

@professorgraemeyorston 9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it.

@margaretkerr4591 Жыл бұрын

These are my favourite poets, including Rupert Graves. I'm 51 now, and I fought my catholic all girls school, to let me do "dulce et decorum est" for my o level ( got an A btw!) My uncle had shellshock, he had been court-martialed for drinking. Most of his platoon went down that night. And I had another uncle who was killed under Rommel's attack. He is buried in lybia x

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

I agree, there has always been something about the war poets that sets them apart - maybe it was the circumstances in which the poems were written or the subject matter or the directness of the language.

@margaretkerr4591 Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston absolutely. When you have two lines in a Sigfrid Sassoon poem like "he put a bullet through his brain No one spoke of him again" It just gives you deep chills. These men were trying to send a message about how real war is. Probably why I'm a pacifist now 💗

@maryannyorston7062 Жыл бұрын

Fascinating video as always. I would be interested to hear more about some of the other treatments for shell shock.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks Maryann, I am planning a video on Lewis Yealland who took a less sympathetic approach and administered painful electric shocks.

@adagietto2523 2 жыл бұрын

Illuminating as always, thank you.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Adagietto, glad you enjoyed it.

@elizabethbower2168 2 жыл бұрын

I was always grateful that my grandfather was turned down by the medical board… And so he escaped the wall that killed so many of his friends

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

All wars are brutal but there is something about WW1 which still makes it seem worse than many others, perhaps it was the sheer numbers that died or the randomness of whether a bullet hit or missed you. He was lucky to have been spared the trenches, but my guess is that he didn't feel lucky at the time, so great was the patriotic drive to serve your country.

@nickgoodwood4812 Жыл бұрын

Excellent. I always thought that some of his reckless acts were driven by the desire to be killed. Thank you for this video.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thank you, the recent concept of moral injury certainly seems to apply.

@jamesyorston2385 2 жыл бұрын

Super interesting, thank you for sharing!

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks James, glad you enjoyed it.

@samu999 Жыл бұрын

great video! I just finished watching the Benediction!

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks Sam, I haven't seen Benediction yet - but looking forward to it.

@emy4stiinta 2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting video.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Emil, glad you enjoyed it.

@waverider8549 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for this video. Sassoon was truly a remarkable man.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

He was a very brave man - as were all those who walked out in front the guns of the WW1 killing fields.

@feralbluee 10 ай бұрын

Very nicely done with knowledgeable respect and compassion, as are all of your treatments of people’s lives. Sassoon was very lucky to be hospitalized where there was humane psychotherapy. most soldiers received a Stimulus Response type therapy where treatment was not with talking things out. they returned to active duty much more quickly. The picture of the spasmodic walking after the war to end all wars was a symptom many soldiers had. they were treated with careful, more positive way. this walking, sometimes not being to walk at all, was an outcome only of WWI - one those collective disorders. do have a good day 🌷🌱

@tomtash8883 2 жыл бұрын

Really interesting video!

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks guys!

@Claudiaxyz 2 жыл бұрын

is it true rankers became mute and officers stammered because of PTSD? Or rather working classes became mute and middleclasses stammered. The film Regeneration suggested that.

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

This is a really interesting question. So much has been written about shell shock during and after WW1 and in more recent analyses and fictional retellings that it is difficult to answer this definitively. It seems that the diagnostic labels used at the time varied between hospitals just as much as the treatments offered. One recent analysis of the surviving case notes from Queen's Square Hospital (where Yealland "treated" his patients with electric currents) has suggested that there were no differences in diagnosis between the ranks and classes.

@donalobrien7582 Ай бұрын

THANK YOU Most Days, I read BASE DETAILS as my Grandfather is Buried in FLANDERS & as it was before my time, It makes me Remember all those who lost their Lives. Love the line, I Us to Know his Father well. Donal O'Brien Ireland Regards

@professorgraemeyorston Ай бұрын

Have you ever visited Flanders, it is very moving.

@emilywatson9895 10 ай бұрын

Could you do a documentary on Bobby Fischer? I love your videos and as an aspiring psychologist I find your bio-psycho-social approach very refreshing :)

@professorgraemeyorston 10 ай бұрын

Thank you, and yes, Bobby Fischer, would make a good topic - let me know if you would like to collaborate!

@emilywatson9895 10 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston Thanks for getting back to me :) yes of course I would love to help in anyway I can!

@voyaristika5673 10 ай бұрын

I didn't know of this man til now. But I think I understand why WWl was "the war to end all wars." How easy to think that after the massive slaughter that man could ever again perpetuate such horror? Very sad.

@professorgraemeyorston 10 ай бұрын

Just 21 years after WW1 ended, Europe was at it again.

@johnbroadway4196 10 ай бұрын

It comes with being A Poet. To write with passionate Heart to skillfully to write that which emotions are the truth of humans and War.

@samnigam3451 8 ай бұрын

Some men can't see suffering during war Lt Siegried Sasson was of them n was certainly not a coward but sick n tired of brutalities in War. Humanity goes dead blind n deaf when War turns Global. Happened in both WW1 n WW2. For me anyone who opposes a bloody charm called War is a Hero. WW1 Veteran n Sad Poet Siegried Sasson was one of them. Respects from India 🇮🇳

@professorgraemeyorston 8 ай бұрын

He wanted to make the public aware of the horrors of the trenches.

@DaveSCameron 10 ай бұрын

English gentleman. #poetry #OurHistory 📚🙏☘️

@Laskagleex Жыл бұрын

In his poetry, there is something maniacal about him, very much a matter-of-fact, black and white kind of thinking.., more leaning toward the dark than the light. And overwhelming humanity. And, of course, is his poetry, and strong leanings towards religion, at least later in life.. Many bipolar people are like that.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Many people without bipolar disorder are also like that.

@Laskagleex Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston Not at all. Most people do not make declarations in the face of even a remote possibility of a firing squad.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

People with PTSD and moral injury do. I couldn't seen anything in his history that would suggest bipolar - a disorder which I think is being massively over-diagnosed at present.

@ghostmanscores1666 Жыл бұрын

Why do modern soldiers act differently from the WWII patients. Such as the tabes like walking in "post holes" gate?

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Good question - I don't think anyone really knows the answer to that.

@Dietconsulting 11 ай бұрын

My family has a unique "claim to fame". My Great-great Aunt was in the first all female medical units in the British Army as a RAMC doctor. She was stationed in Malta. We finally got access to her war records and it is apparent she developed combat stress - although those words werent used, but between the record and my Mum's memories of her it is a logical inference. She did find a loving husband and was the medical director of health in Malaysia in the interwar years. We are still trying to work out what happened with her in WW2. When you have these "troublesome women" in the family you find their stories are conveniently forgotten, you have to refind and own their stories.

@professorgraemeyorston 11 ай бұрын

Fascinating - do keep trying. Psychological trauma in non-combat medical and nursing staff is something that doesn't get enough attention.

@Dietconsulting 10 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston Yes, it is poorly recognized. I worked out and told my Dad his father, who was in the RAMC in WW2, had combat stress when I started learning about it from documentaries on Vietnam veterans. I only had a few memories of him but remembered his vulnerability to loud noise. It was confirmed from his discharge records when released at the 50-year mark.

@Jack-fs2im Жыл бұрын

Kipling extensively details ptsd

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Interesting, which book/poems?

@Jack-fs2im Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston They say Tommy is a thug and throw out that brute,but its saviour of the country when guns begin to shoot” Kipling PS kubriks “paths of glory” shows the madness.Also I found “the madness of king george” great expose of madness.I have ptsd and depersonalisation and with pyschiatric treatment that made no difference because death experiences can not be explained by any “living” person for obvious reasons.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks Jack.

@tiggerjones1323 2 жыл бұрын

Ergo therapy? Cure by functioning? Basket weaving ? Occupational Therapy at its finest !???

@professorgraemeyorston 2 жыл бұрын

I couldn't possibly agree to basket weaving and occupational therapy being on the same page, my OT colleagues would never forgive me, but yes, OT at its finest. Scotland was ahead of the rest of the UK at the time in its thinking about this.

@bdwon Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston The usual regime of shaving, pressing one's clothes, making one's bed, tending to uniforms, spit and polish, as it were, is a perfectly appropriate form of ergo therapy. One the military organizations have long practiced.

@miadahhajbi6442 Ай бұрын

One story fits all did you ever sit in between Men gathering to have a good time together. They all end up talking about the best weapon the best way to kill The best way to hate, etc. Because everyone want to army learn how to kill when his child memory stuck in the brain. The job of the women 's before they start going to Army cuz they become the same now it was just to calm down that has been their brother s whatever in the Army in that house. They turning every house to field a war This is why nobody happy. Who want to spend his life listening to how you kill, how you injured. How your hero? How you lost. Love wins. Excuse me, this is not life. I wish that I stop every military in the world and let the people live with good memory. Maybe talking about love, story etc. Instead of this bloody memory and everybody think everybody is anime. Excuse me. This is why I never like the talk of men when they sit together