When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead

Charles Hamilton Sorley - Wikipedia 

Charles Hamilton Sorley was a poet who was shot dead by a sniper during World War 1. His writing career was brief due to being killed so early in his life. Sorley enlisted in the war upon his arrival in England after spending 6 months studying in Germany. In May 1915, Sorley and his regiment deployed to France. Sorley was then named Captain by September of the same year. Sadly, one month after being named Captain,  Sorley was shot dead in the aftermath of the Battle of Loos. However, although being killed at just 20 years old, Sorley was still able to create some poems that brought light to the battlefield. However, Sorley is not a well known poet and his work is often overlooked due to his lack of a reputation as a poet. Sorley's poem, "When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead", is an unpopular piece of work that gives readers a sense on the mindset that some soldiers had. According to Interesting Literature, "The poem is about an absence of senses: the dead soldiers are deaf to kind words, blind to tears, unable to speak ('mouthless dead')" (interestingliterature.com, 2016). The poem can be seen as a message to other soldiers to ignore the nightmares that they are having of dead soldiers. He wants to remind the other soldiers not to cry for their fallen brothers, because they are dead and there is nothing after death. Sorley's words can be seen as a form of coping with the death that he sees constantly around him. While being so young, Sorley had a mature mindset towards death and the violence of the war. However, Sorley still has to deal with seeing his dead partners in his dreams and forces himself to ignore them and believe that there is no after life.