Autumn | October's bellowing anger breaks and cleaves

by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886 - 1967)

Autumn

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

October's bellowing anger breaks and cleaves  
The bronzed battalions of the stricken wood  
In whose lament I hear a voice that grieves  
For battle's fruitless harvest, and the feud  
Of outraged men. Their lives are like the leaves
Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown  
Along the westering furnace flaring red.  
O martyred youth and manhood overthrown,  
The burden of your wrongs is on my head.

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Confirmed with Siegfried Sassoon, COUNTER-ATTACK and other poems, E.P .Dutton and company, New York, 1918, page 48

Text Authorship:

by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886 - 1967), "Autumn", appears in Counter-Attack, first published 1918 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Harold Blumenfeld (b. 1923), "Autumn", published 1971 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Songs of War [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-10-19
Line count: 9
Word count: 67