Everyman no. 1

Sassoon's poem Everyman was written in early 1927, eight years after the Armistice that ended fighting on the Western Front. The title of the poem is borrowed from the tradition of Christian morality plays, popular in England during the 15th and 16th centuries, that explore man's virtues and vices on his journey towards death. Sassoon's anti-heroic imagery reveals a concern for the sacrifice of those who died and the burden that endures for those who remain. For Sassoon, the litany of the dead included family members, friends and the soldiers he commanded. In his paintings Barrett illustrates Sassoon's poem through the images of soldiers enduring the hardships of war. The universal quality of the poem is captured in Barrett's linear figures who portray emotion and experience with anonymity.