The world war 1 era poet Robert Graves wrote a poem titled “letter to S.S. from Mametz Wood”. As the poem contains numerous indirect references towards world war 1 terms and names, what is the significance of the name “S.S”? Could it reference a famous soldier, or a certain term used in that era?

by Flockofseagulls25
IlluminatiRex

Lines 69-71 actually give you an answer!

Robert will learn the local bat For billeting and things like that,
If Siegfried learns the piccolo

The title, and poem, references the friendship between Graves and Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was a fellow war-poet and both had served as officers in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. They bonded over their mutual interest in writing and poetry, and Graves's views influenced those of Sassoon - although stylistically from what I understand they did not have the greatest effect on each other (rather it was Graves's content that influenced Sassoon). Both convalesced for a time at Somerville College, Oxford in 1916.

Letter to S.S. From Mametz Wood is actually a response to a poem of Sassoon's titled A Letter Home. Graves wanted to try and match the style that Sassoon had in A Letter Home.

In 1917 Sassoon published a statement that called for the war to be ended immediately. This statement was an outrage, especially as Sassoon was a decorated war hero, and Graves went to great lengths to make sure that no great harm came to Sassoon as a result - who was eventually sent to Craiglockheart to be treated for neurasthenics. Essentially, Graves had pulled enough strings to convince the authorities that the statement had been made due to his mental state as a result of the war. Sassoon even briefly returned to service after this episode and their friendship had survived what Graves thought was a great error (publishing the anti-war statement). At the time they had a very strong friendship.

While the pair were good friends during the war, things soured by the time Graves published his Semi-Fictional Semi-Autobiographical Good-bye to All That in 1928. Brian Bond writes in Survivors of a Kind that this was because an advanced copy had not been sent to Sassoon and it included an unpublished poem of his. As well, he was not a fan of some of the anecdotes included and thought they would do great harm to people such as his mother. It is safe to say that Good-bye to All That soured their relationship for good.