Sassoon, Siegfried

8vo (170 x 128mm.), 1 page, 9 lines of verse signed with author's monogram and dated "Jan. 28. 1928", collector's folder, one fold

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"When Hardy died, and Pens (who'd bored him) prattled,
My soul rebelled. Blindly I was embattled
With windy nothings that no strength can smite..."

Siegfried Sassoon first met Thomas Hardy at Max Gate in November 1918, just a few days before the Armistice. They developed a close friendship and, according to John Masefield, Hardy came to love Sassoon "like a son".

In December 1928 Sassoon was finding difficulty writing (he noted, in a letter to Glen Byam Shaw that "I seem to be losing interest in my career as a writer"). Then, on 11 January 1928, Hardy died. Sasssoon's first reaction was to play Beethoven's funeral march from the Eroica symphony on the piano and then he wept. He found the idea of the double burial (with Hardy's heart in Stinsford church graveyard) particularly gruesome.

Sassoon was late for the funeral in Westminster Abbey on 16 January and had to watch the ceremony from a distance. Max Egremont notes that, as tributes started to appear, Sassoon felt "anger": "...a 'trivial and pert little poem' by Humbert Wolfe, a crude, self-promoting article by Robert Graves; 'I have never felt hatred for R.G. before'..." (see Egremont, Siegfried Sassoon A Biography (2006), p.317).

Sassoon soon tried his own tribute in poetry. As Egremont notes, it was "a pompous elegy called 'Catafalque' - but The Times rejected it and the New Statesman turned down what he thought was a better effort. The best of his Hardy poems, 'At Max Gate' - contrasting the twinkling, fireside figure with the hidden, darker Wessex wizard - was not published until 1950" (see Egremont, Siegfried Sassoon A Biography, London, 2006, p. 317).

This letter, addressed to Hardy's widow, accompanies a copy of Sassoon's nine-line poem apparently composed on 28 January 1928. Sassoon notes that he is sending "the lines which T.E. S[haw] told you about. He is the only person who has a copy, and I sent it to him because I felt that he would understand. I hope it will not hurt or offend you in any way. I can only say that it expressed what I was enduring at the time..." (8vo, Wilsford Manor, Salisbury, 1 November 1930, 1 page). The envelope is addressed to Mrs Hardy at Max Gate and is postmarked 1 November 1930.