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Charles Sorley, The Poetry Of (Audiobook)
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Read by Richard Mitchley, Ghizela Rowe & Gideon Wagner (Unabridged: 1hr 6mins)

Charles Hamilton Sorley was born on May 19th, 1895 in Aberdeen.  His family moved to Cambridge when Sorley was five and his education later continued at Marlborough College, 1908-1913, where he became an excellent debater.  His favourite past time however was cross-country running in  the rain.

From here he won a scholarship to Oxford but decided to go in January 1914 to spend a year in Germany beforehand to study.  It was a fateful decision. War clouds had gathered over Europe and when war was declared Sorley was interned for a few hours, and then instructed to leave Germany.

Sorley returned to England and immediately signed up to serve as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Suffolk Regiment.  He arrived in France in May, 1915 and, by the same August, had been promoted to Captain.

His poems are small in number but large in influence.  ‘Such, Such is Death’ and ‘Millions of the Mouthless Dead’ evocatively capture the horror, carnage and waste of the War.

He did however also manage to write other verse which succinctly captures the human feelings and the nature of what the eye falls upon and the heart understands.

On October 13th 1915, near Hulluch, at the Battle of Loos, Charles Hamilton Sorley was killed by a sniper’s bullet to the head at the tender age of 20.

His last poem was recovered from his kit after his death, and hauntingly reads:―

When you see millions of the mouthless dead.

Across your dreams in pale battalions go……..

On November 11th 1985, Sorley was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.

 

In this compilation - 

01 - The Poetry of Charles Sorley - An Introduction
02 - When You See Millions Of The Mouthless Dead By Charles Sorley
03 - A Hundred Thousand Million Mites We Go by Charles Sorley
04 - Such Such Is Death by Charles Sorley
05 - If I Have Suffered Pain by Charles Sorley
06 - A Letter From the Trenches to An Old School Friend by Charles Sorley
07 - What You Will by Charles Sorley
08 - To Germany by Charles Sorley
09 - German Rain by Charles Sorley
10 - Barbury Camp by Charles Sorley
11 - Stones by Charles Sorley
12 - Rooks (I) by Charles Sorley
13 - Rooks (II) by Charles Sorley
14 - There Is Such Change In All Those Fields by Charles Sorley
15 - Autumn Dawn by Charles Sorley
16 - Marlborough by Charles Sorley
17 - Return by Charles Sorley
18 - East Kennet Church At Evening by Charles Sorley
19 - All the Hills and Vales Along by Charles Sorley
20 - Saints Have Adored the Lofty Soul of You by Charles Sorley
21 - Lost by Charles Sorley
22 - The Seekers by Charles Sorley
23 - Expectans Expectavi by Charles Sorley
24 - The Song of the Ungirt Runners by Charles Sorley
25 - Deus Loquitor by Charles Sorley
26 - A Tale of Two Careers by Charles Sorley
27 - A Call to Action by Charles Sorley
28 - I Have Not Brought My Odyssey by Charles Sorley
29 - Peace by Charles Sorley
30 - To Poets by Charles Sorley