The kiss by Siegfried Sassoon
Tatianah christian
English 200
Journal
3/4/22
(you can use this journal I wrote as a reference of how I interrupted some points of the poem)
The Kiss
In this poem, the title “ The Kiss” is very meaningful and holds a lot of significance throughout
the poem. A kiss can represent love, passion, and attraction. So before I read the poem I assumed
that the poem would be about something passionate just from reading the title.
My first impression when I read this poem was that although it was short, there was a lot
of symbolization going on that had an underlying meaning. In the second line when he stated,
“Brother lead and sister steel” I thought it was weird at first so associate brother and sister in a
poem that’s title was named “The Kiss”. But I thought deeper and realized that maybe the author
could be talking about a relationship between a brother and sister and how close they can be.
And associated it with the words lead and steel which both connect as well.
I also noticed the structure of the poem was set up with 3 stanzas and 4 lines in each
stanza. There was also some rhyming going on at the ending of each line, for example trust and
rust, steel and appeal.
In the second stanza where it states, “He spins and burns and loves the air, /And splits a
skull to win my praise” I thought of what was going on a barrel on a gun spinning and being
fired into someone’s skull.
The last stanza was really significant to the whole meaning of the poem. I feel like when I
was reading it, it almost sounded like a prayer. I definitely got that vibe from the first line when
it stated,” Sweet sister, grant your soldier this”. All in all I liked the poem.
