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The Diary of a Dead Officer, Being the Posthumous Papers of Arthur Graeme West
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
- GenresWorld War INonfiction
114 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 22, 2021
what brief phantoms in a dream – a dream within a dream, this truly is my life, and how gladly i would end it now.
graeme 💔 this line from the diary snagged at me, and i wonder now if he realized he had written it in iambic meter... gosh, what a waste of a brilliant poet the war was. this diary is heartbreaking. i've never encountered a war poet so vehemently against the war, and so desperate to get out of it. wilfred owen loved the trenches and his men; blunden requested to be sent back to france when he was pulled out of the lines. even sorley, who hated the war the most, loved its refining fire. graeme just wanted to go home, to his books and to his art. his friends. why go on? is a phrase repeated again and again in these pages. i only wish his verse were better known, it's incisive and angry and clever in a way that anticipates sassoon (and does him one better with its wild-eyed desperation) but has received a fraction of the attention. a shame. alas, i'm glad i know him now, and can do the necessary work to make sure he's remembered as he ought...!
graeme 💔 this line from the diary snagged at me, and i wonder now if he realized he had written it in iambic meter... gosh, what a waste of a brilliant poet the war was. this diary is heartbreaking. i've never encountered a war poet so vehemently against the war, and so desperate to get out of it. wilfred owen loved the trenches and his men; blunden requested to be sent back to france when he was pulled out of the lines. even sorley, who hated the war the most, loved its refining fire. graeme just wanted to go home, to his books and to his art. his friends. why go on? is a phrase repeated again and again in these pages. i only wish his verse were better known, it's incisive and angry and clever in a way that anticipates sassoon (and does him one better with its wild-eyed desperation) but has received a fraction of the attention. a shame. alas, i'm glad i know him now, and can do the necessary work to make sure he's remembered as he ought...!
March 7, 2021
Poor kid.
October 2, 2024
This is collection of entries from West's diaries, some letters and some of his poems. It is a reprint of the 2007 edition with an introduction from Nigel Jones. This was, in turn, a new edition of the original, which came out in 1919 with an introduction by West's friend, the pacifist philosopher Cyril Joad. West had been killed in 1917 and had - as this book demonstrates - come to be filled with a horror of the war he had found himself involved in. Joad's introduction positions West as a pacifist martyr, but that doesn't quite fit West properly. Joad had his reasons.
These diary entries makes for a fascinating read and lay out how West's thinking changed to such a degree that he almost deserted. His story and that of Siegfried Sassoon (who is the better known of the two) dovetail to a certain degree but West could not quite bring himself to mail the letter he had written and so went back to war.
The collection's entries are of varying lengths. Some are bite sized comments on events of the day, others longer more considered meditations of war, and God, and death. Sometimes his tone reminds me of Peter Carter, the pilot played by David Niven in a Matter of Life and Death. I almost could here him saying: "I love you, June. You're life and I'm leaving you." Compare that to West's "What has come to me recently is the supreme value of human love.
West doesn't want to keep fighting because he has come to realise that the fighting is about nothing of value: "Duty to country and King and civilisation! Nonsense! For none of these things is a man forced to leave his humanity on one side and make a passionate destroying beast of himself. I am a man before I am anything else, and it is all that is human in me that revolts."
But West's thoughts range over many subjects as they pertain to war. He can be pretty scathing about patriotism, religion, the army, and war. His most savage language though can be found in his poems, particularly God! How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men!", which begins:
GOD! How I hate you, you young cheerful men,
Whose pious poetry blossoms on your graves...
It might be one of the most scathing bits of writing from any poet from World War One. Certainly the most direct.
Perhaps though his most affecting poem is 'The Night Patrol' which provides a vivid picture of what patrolling No Man's Land might really mean.
It is a short book, but a powerful one. And because it isn't as well-known perhaps as other books from the time it might be a good one for you to pick up if you're interested in World War One. Here we get to meet an 'Angry Young Man' decades before 'Look Back in Anger.'
These diary entries makes for a fascinating read and lay out how West's thinking changed to such a degree that he almost deserted. His story and that of Siegfried Sassoon (who is the better known of the two) dovetail to a certain degree but West could not quite bring himself to mail the letter he had written and so went back to war.
The collection's entries are of varying lengths. Some are bite sized comments on events of the day, others longer more considered meditations of war, and God, and death. Sometimes his tone reminds me of Peter Carter, the pilot played by David Niven in a Matter of Life and Death. I almost could here him saying: "I love you, June. You're life and I'm leaving you." Compare that to West's "What has come to me recently is the supreme value of human love.
West doesn't want to keep fighting because he has come to realise that the fighting is about nothing of value: "Duty to country and King and civilisation! Nonsense! For none of these things is a man forced to leave his humanity on one side and make a passionate destroying beast of himself. I am a man before I am anything else, and it is all that is human in me that revolts."
But West's thoughts range over many subjects as they pertain to war. He can be pretty scathing about patriotism, religion, the army, and war. His most savage language though can be found in his poems, particularly God! How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men!", which begins:
GOD! How I hate you, you young cheerful men,
Whose pious poetry blossoms on your graves...
It might be one of the most scathing bits of writing from any poet from World War One. Certainly the most direct.
Perhaps though his most affecting poem is 'The Night Patrol' which provides a vivid picture of what patrolling No Man's Land might really mean.
It is a short book, but a powerful one. And because it isn't as well-known perhaps as other books from the time it might be a good one for you to pick up if you're interested in World War One. Here we get to meet an 'Angry Young Man' decades before 'Look Back in Anger.'
November 23, 2025
Only really read half of this book to be honest. I didn’t much like it. I’m sure West was a very intelligent young man but I found his writing rather rambling and. It very interesting. I was drawn to read it as he didn’t survive but the book just didn’t float my boat. His poems at the end did nothing for me.
January 14, 2018
War destroys a man's faith and turns his personal and political philosophy upside down.
October 8, 2020
War changes a man to bitterness and atheism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2012
The Diary of a Dead Officer by Arthur Graeme West is the personal account of a British officer in World War I. Born is 1891; Arthur West was twenty-four when he enlisted in the army as a private. He had applied for officer training but was refused due to poor eyesight. He went to France and fought in the trenches but returned to Britain to attend an officer training school in Scotland. Once this was completed he returned to France and the trenches only to be killed by a snipers bullet on April 3, 1917.
As a graduate of Oxford he majored in literature. The book contains a selection of his poems. I found the poems depressing and filled with gloom. I don’t know when they were written (life in the trenches could have had a negative effect on his mood) but I wouldn’t rate them extremely high. The diary does show his personal transition from patriot to pacifist. It gave me a new look at that old war. Views he had sounded like those of soldiers that served in Vietnam (and a noisy minority of civilians at home). I had always thought that everyone looked of the World Wars as a necessity and fought, died or survived with a feeling of unblemished patriotism. Arthur West wrote repeatedly that he wasn’t afraid of death; on the contrary, he welcomed it. I guess it really is true: Be careful what you wish for as it just may come true.
As a graduate of Oxford he majored in literature. The book contains a selection of his poems. I found the poems depressing and filled with gloom. I don’t know when they were written (life in the trenches could have had a negative effect on his mood) but I wouldn’t rate them extremely high. The diary does show his personal transition from patriot to pacifist. It gave me a new look at that old war. Views he had sounded like those of soldiers that served in Vietnam (and a noisy minority of civilians at home). I had always thought that everyone looked of the World Wars as a necessity and fought, died or survived with a feeling of unblemished patriotism. Arthur West wrote repeatedly that he wasn’t afraid of death; on the contrary, he welcomed it. I guess it really is true: Be careful what you wish for as it just may come true.
November 4, 2010
The diary of an British officer during WWI. I reread the intro after finishing the diary. I found refreshing myself on the facts after reading Arthur's words brought what he said into greater focus and left me with an even deeper impression of the impact of war on the individual fighting it.
I'm not sure how the individual who wrote the intro is related to Arthur, but is apparent they knew each other well. I disagree with his observence that Arthur didn't die heroically because a sniper's bullet caught him as he left his trench. He was a hero because he continued to fight even though he abhorred the killing and wanted to stop.
I'm not sure how the individual who wrote the intro is related to Arthur, but is apparent they knew each other well. I disagree with his observence that Arthur didn't die heroically because a sniper's bullet caught him as he left his trench. He was a hero because he continued to fight even though he abhorred the killing and wanted to stop.
May 13, 2015
Très mauvaise édition (Forgotten books 1912), simple photocopie de l'édition originale et grosse confusion dans le classement des extraits : ordre chronologique pas toujours respecté, sans raison thématique évidente derrière. Dommage...
Le témoignage en lui-même est cependant passionnant, malgré sa brièveté, que ce soit les descriptions dans les tranchées, extrêmement brutes, les réflexions métaphysiques qui poussent Arthur Graeme West à l'athéisme, la formation pas toujours adaptée (cf partie II). Un témoignage court, poignant et nécessaire.
Le témoignage en lui-même est cependant passionnant, malgré sa brièveté, que ce soit les descriptions dans les tranchées, extrêmement brutes, les réflexions métaphysiques qui poussent Arthur Graeme West à l'athéisme, la formation pas toujours adaptée (cf partie II). Un témoignage court, poignant et nécessaire.
September 22, 2014
While most of what we know about WWI is related to heroic events, brave young men, and unequalled sacrifice not all the men at the front felt grand, and certainly their views changed as the war progressed....
February 16, 2013
Grahame is an outstanding writer but seems to lack meaning in his life, hence his death is all the more tragic.
February 8, 2020
Absolutely depressing. Shows how Europe threw a generation of young men into the meat grinder and destroyed the lives of the dead, like West, and spiritually destroyed the survivors.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews