They (poem)
poem by Siegfried Sassoon
They is a 1917 poem by the English soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon published in The Old Huntsman and Other Poems. It disparages the attitude of the established church to the Great War.
The first verse of the poem tells of a bishop's speech about the noble sacrifice of the soldiers, and in particular mentions his view that "they lead the last attack / On Anti-Christ". The second verse contrasts with the soldiers' reply, telling of the woes of four common soldiers; the bishop replies that "The ways of God are strange!"
The poem is still under copyright in some countries. It is currently in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1923, but will only become public domain in most countries after 2038 (author's death + 70).
The public source identifies “They (poem)” as poem by Siegfried Sassoon. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around They, poem and Siegfried.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7783636. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1917, 1923 and 2038.
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This entry incorporates text from “They (poem)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.