View source for “They”

{{Infobox poem
|name                = “They”
|image               = Siegfried Sassoon by George Charles Beresford (1915).jpg
|image_size          = 
|caption             = Siegfried Sassoon by George Charles Beresford (1915)
|subtitle            = 
|author              = [[w:Siegfried Sassoon|Siegfried Sassoon]]
|original_title      =
|original_title_lang = 
|translator          = 
|written             = {{date|1916-10-31|MDY}}
|first               =
|illustrator         =
|cover_artist        =
|country             = United Kingdom
|language            = English
|series              =
|subject             = {{c|World War I}}
|genre               =
|form                =
|meter               =
|rhyme               =
|publisher           =
|publication_date    = {{date|1918}}
|media_type          =
|lines               = 12
|pages               =
|size_weight         =
|isbn                =
|oclc                =
|preceded_by         =
|followed_by         =
|wikisource          =
}}

<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center; padding: 25px 0 25px 0; font-size: 16pt;">
{| style="width: 700px;"
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<poem>
The Bishop tells us: “When the boys come back{{refn|Having returned as an invalid in 1917 from the European front, Sassoon had a change of heart about the war and began to express his concerns publicly and with his poetry ({{harvnb|Abrams|1986|p=1898}}).}}
They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought
In a just cause: they lead the last attack
On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought
New right to breed an honourable race, {{ln|5}}
They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.”

“We’re none of us the same!” the boys reply.
“For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind;
Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die;
And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find {{ln|10}}
A chap who’s served that hasn’t found ''some'' change.”
And the Bishop said: “The ways of God are strange!”
</poem>
|}</div>

===Notes and Commentary===
{{Reflist}}

===Works Cited===
* {{cite book |editor-last=Abrams |editor-first=M. H. |date={{date|1986}} |title=The Norton Anthology of English Literature |volume=2 |edition=Fifth |url= |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:They}}
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Literary]]
[[Category:20th Century]]