Where Poppies Grow - Neogic

Where Poppies Grow

Poems of the First World War
from

The Oxford Book of War Poetry

An A Level English Student Workbook
by

Sonya Shaw and Malcolm Young
Wessex Publications

CONTENTS

Page
Using the workbook……………..……………………………………… 1
Preface ………………………………………………………………….. 2

THE POETS
Thomas Hardy…..……….………………………………………...……. 4
Rupert Brooke……………………. ……………………………………. 6
Herbert Asquith……..………………………………………………….. 10
Julian Grenfell …………. …………………………………..…………. 11
John McCrae ………………………………………………….……….. 13
Charles Sorley …………………………………………………………. 15
A. E. Housman ………………………………...………………………. 17
Hugh MacDiarmid ………………………………………….…………. 18
Carl Sandberg ……………………………..…………………………… 20
Robert Frost …………………………………………………………… 20
Wallace Stevens ………………………………………………………. 20
Guillaume Apollinaire …………………………...…………………… 23
Benjamin Péret ……………………………………….……………….. 25
W. B. Yeats ……………………………………………………………. 27
Seigfried Sassoon ……………………………………………………… 34
Edward Thomas……………………………………………………….. 40
Ivor Gurney……... ……………………………………………………. 42
Isaac Rosenberg ………………………………………………………. 46
Wilfred Owen …………………………………………………………. 51
Robert Graves …………………………………………………………. 60
Edmund Blunden ……………………………………………………… 64
Richard Aldington …………………………………………………….. 68
Edgell Rickword ………………………………………………………. 70
E. E. Cummings ………………………………………………………. 71
John Peale Bishop …………………………………………………….. 74
David Jones .. …………………………………………………………. 75
Laurence Binyon ……………………………………………………… 76
Ezra Pound ……………………………………………………………. 77
T. S. Eliot …………………………………………………………….. 78
G. K. Chesterton ……………………………………………………… 79
Rudyard Kipling ……………………………………………………… 81
Elizabeth Daryush ……………………………………………………. 83
May Wedderburn Cannan ……………………………………………. 84
Philip Larkin ……………………………………………………...….. 85
Vernon Scannell ………………………………………………………. 87
Ted Hughes …………………………………………………………… 88
Douglas Dunn ………………………………………………………… 89

The Role of Women in World War One ……………………………… 91
A Brief Chronology of World War One …………………….…...…… 92
Further Reading ………………………………………………….…… 93
The Imperial War Museum …………………………………………… 94
Essay and revision questions ……………………………….................... 95

World War I Poetry Using the Workbook

USING THE WORKBOOK

This workbook looks in detail at the seventy-two poems selected by Jon
Stallworthy in The Oxford Book of War Poetry to represent the period of
the First World War. In it you will be asked to complete the tasks on each
of the poems, as you progress through the collection. All of these tasks are
aimed at helping you to read the poetry carefully and to come to an
appreciation of its meaning and significance so that you are able
eventually to think about each in an exploratory and analytical way.

Our notes require some understanding of the lives of the thirty-six poets
who are included and also knowledge of the period of history about which
they were written. With some poetry it is not necessary to know anything
about the poet’s life but with most of these poems their lives are so
inextricably interwoven with the poetry that we make no excuse for
frequently referring to the background of the poems and the characters of
the poets.

You will doubtless find favourite poets and here we recommend that you
read their work more widely than merely the poems included in
Stallworthy’s selection, in order to gain a fuller understanding and
appreciation.

Where you see this symbol, it is to suggest Extension Work; it may point
you to further reading, comparisons, listening to music or even watching a
film. In these cases, you should keep your own fuller notes in a notebook
or ring binder. These will form an important revision aid if you are
intending to answer questions on this text in an exam.

At the end of the workbook you will find a number of specimen essay
questions of the kind that you might expect in your final A/S or A2
examination or in an examination of similar standard. Each of the thirty-
six poets is addressed somewhere in the questions offered. If you are
intending to answer on this text in an examination, it is essential that you
practise writing answers to as many of these as you can so as to give
yourself an idea of how to tackle them and of how much time you need to
make notes, to plan and to write your final answers.

Good luck with your studying.

The text:

The Oxford Book of War Poetry
Chosen and edited by Jon Stallworthy (Oxford University Press 2008)

Poems of the First World War
from Thomas Hardy (page 160) to Douglas Dunn (page 225)

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World War I Poetry Preface

PREFACE

Much has been written, and will continue to be written, about the poetry of
the First World War. It cannot be denied that, terrible war that it was, it
saw the flowering of a new kind of literature, emerging from an older and
more grandiose style.

In his anthology, Jon Stallworthy has chosen an eclectic collection of
poets, some of whom were never considered to be ‘war poets’. It is,
nevertheless, an interesting mixture of old, new and some very
experimental verse.

Why the period of the First World War should have been so rich in poetry
is something that is much discussed. It is a fact that the first men to
volunteer to fight included some from well-heeled families, young men
who had received a privileged, classical education in which it would have
had instilled in them all the ideals of heroism and patriotism. Some were
even published poets already, part of the movement known as the
‘Georgian Poets’, whose love of language and form in verse is very
evident in the poems such as those of Rupert Brooke and Julian Grenfell.

It was not until Charles Sorley emerged on the scene, with all the fervour
of youth and experience of life at the Front, that the horrors of that terrible
war began to be voiced. That voice was to find its full flowering in the
writing of poets such as Siegfried Sassoon, Ivor Gurney, Wilfred Owen
and Isaac Rosenberg.

The world of poetry is a small one and, in many ways, almost an
incestuous one, in the way that many of the poets of the time knew each
other, had great admiration for their talents and were most supportive of
each other. A famous example of this is the way in which Siegfried
Sassoon influenced and mentored the young Wilfred Owen when they
were both patients in Craiglockhart Hospital. There are many other
examples: Ezra Pound was much influenced by his friendship with various
other British poets to the extent that, although being an American, he
developed quite a European outlook; Cummings became a keen
Francophile, developing his style from the exponents of Modernist poetry,
while Eliot actually went as far as to become a British citizen.

World War I was a truly horrible and bloody war fought over long years of
hardship both abroad and at home and the question remains: ‘What was it
all for?’ There are no winners in any war and the poems in this selection
leave little doubt that this war was an extremely futile one.

You may not agree entirely with Stallworthy’s selection. From time to
time we have wondered why this or that poem should have been included
or why other great poems have been excluded. Nevertheless, we have
concluded that overall the selection is balanced and succeeds in the
attempt to include as many viewpoints as possible. The opening section –
from Hardy to McCrae – is blatantly propagandist in its concept, glorifying

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World War I Poetry Preface

the war and encouraging recruitment. The main part of the selection
includes the young poets who wrote from first-hand experience of the
horrors of war with the intention of shocking the nation into a realisation
of the futility of it all; it is significant that seven of the greatest of these
died on the battlefields of France. Stallworthy includes English, Scottish,
Irish and Welsh among his poets. You may wonder at the inclusion of the
French – Apollinaire and Péret – but it is important to appreciate the
influence that they had on the style of others who were to follow them.
The American writers that he has included offer a different perspective
while Daryush and Cannan will raise the question as to why there were so
few successful female poets at this time. The selection concludes with four
of the greatest poets of the later half of the twentieth century, writing
retrospectively about the conflict.

We hope that you will enjoy studying this remarkable collection of verse
and that, through the voices of the poets, you will gain a sympathetic
understanding of that period of our history.

Malcolm Young and Sonya Shaw

This work is dedicated to
my grandfather,

2nd Lt. Dugald Shaw
of the 5th Seaforth Highlanders
who died of wounds in France,

27 July 1918.
Sonya Shaw

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World War I Poetry Thomas Hardy

THOMAS HARDY 1840 - 1928

Hardy was born in Dorset, where he lived for most of his long life and
where he set all his novels. Although he is universally applauded for his
novels, he always said that he wrote them only for money and wanted to
be remembered for his poetry. His first volume of poems, written over a
period of thirty years, was published in 1898. Themes of his work often
involve mankind’s struggle against the vagaries of Fate, or
disappointment in love and life, set against a background of Nature. The
two poems selected for study here are not typical of most of his writing.

Men Who March Away

(Song of the Soldiers)

This poem is like a marching song, with repetitive lines and a strong
rhythm. It shows the soldiers, full of optimism, marching off at the
outbreak of the war, confident that they will be the victors.

TASK 1 What is your first impression of the poem? Look carefully at the second
stanza and discuss the elements of doubt that it contains.

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World War I Poetry Thomas Hardy

In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations’

This is a simple, short poem in which three different scenes of rural
life are depicted.

TASK 2 What images does the poet create in this apparently simple poem? How
does he achieve his effects and convey to the reader his underlying belief?

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World War I Poetry Rupert Brooke

RUPERT BROOKE 1887 -1915

Rupert Brooke was the son of a housemaster at Rugby School. While
studying at Cambridge he became involved with various literary figures of
the day. He was a handsome and popular figure but suffered a nervous
collapse, which led him to travel the world as part of his recuperation. His
early work, as part of the group of poets known as the Georgian Poets,
earned him a reputation as a most promising young poet. However, it is the
five or six “war sonnets” for which he will mostly be remembered. They
reflect the idealised, romantic vision of war that was held by so many
young men of the day. At the outbreak of the War, he joined the Royal
Navy but never saw active service. He died of septicaemia on his way to
battle at Gallipoli and was buried on the Greek island of Skyros. Rupert
Brooke is generally thought of as one of the foremost War poets but in
reality it would be more honest to think of him as a pre-War poet.

Peace

This is the second in a sequence of six sonnets published to enormous
critical acclaim under the title ‘1914’. However, the first of these
poems, ‘The Treasure’ seems incongruous and many believe that the
sequence of five, beginning with ‘Peace’ is more effective. It is full of
noble sentiments and an idealised vision of war as a purifying
experience. It is a prelude to the Great Adventure of War as seen
through the eyes of a young man who has no experience of combat.

TASK 3 In this sonnet, how does the writer convey his vision of Death?

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World War I Poetry Rupert Brooke

We are able to look back and perhaps think of the sentiments expressed
here as somewhat naïve but, at the time of their publication, these poems
were extremely popular, selling in record numbers because they expressed
so succinctly the sentiments of the day.

The Dead

This is the fourth in the ‘1914’ sequence of poems and the first of two
entitled ‘The Dead’. The noble sentiments of ‘Holiness’, ‘Love’, ‘Pain’
and ‘Honour’ are expressed in language that is far more precise than
that used in the earlier poem.

TASK 4 In what way is Brooke’s portrayal of Death in this poem different from
that in ‘Peace’?

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World War I Poetry Rupert Brooke

TASK 5 The Soldier

This is the final and most famous of the ‘1914’ sonnets. Not only is it
one of the best known and most frequently quoted poems in the
English language, but it is beautifully constructed and very powerful
in the way that it evokes the sentiments of that Age.

How do the sentiments expressed in the poem differ from today’s values?

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World War I Poetry Rupert Brooke

Read the whole sequence of the ‘1914’ sonnets and make longer notes on
why the first (‘The Treasure’) is generally disregarded and decide if you
agree with Stalworthy’s choice of the three he has included in this
anthology.

I. ‘The Treasure’
II. ‘Peace’
III. ‘Safety’
IV. ‘The Dead’
V. ‘The Dead’
VI. ‘The Soldier’

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World War I Poetry Herbert Asquith

HERBERT ASQUITH 1881 - 1947

Herbert Asquith was the second son of the British Prime Minister,
Herbert Henry Asquith, with whom he is frequently confused. As well as
being a poet and novelist, he was a lawyer. He was aged 33 at the
outbreak of war when he was commissioned in the Royal Artillery as a
Second Lieutenant with an Anti-Aircraft Battery. He was wounded in
1915 but returned to the Front in France in 1916 as a full Lieutenant with
a battery of field guns, remaining on active service until the end of the
war.

The Volunteer

The poet paints a picture of an older volunteer who has led a very dull
life but dreams of the great battles of the past and sees himself
following in the footsteps of his heroes.

TASK 6 This poem is often referred to as “a recruiting poem”. What is there in it
that would justify such a description?

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World War I Poetry Julian Grenfell

JULIAN GRENFELL 1888 - 1915

Julian Grenfell was the first son and heir of Lord Desborough and was
educated at Eton and Oxford. On leaving university, he was commissioned
in the Royal Dragoons and sent immediately to India. He served there, and
in South Africa, until the outbreak of war when he was posted to Flanders
and fought in the First Battle of Ypres. Within months, he was awarded
the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) for bravery against German
snipers. In October 1914, Julian Grenfell wrote a letter in which he said, “I
adore war. It is like a big picnic ….. I have never been more well or more
happy.” Grenfell became known as “the happy warrior” while his words
caused considerable controversy. In 1915, he was wounded and taken to a
hospital in Boulogne where he died thirteen days later at the age of 27. His
poem, ‘Into Battle’, was published in The Times the day after his death.
Two months later, his younger brother, Billy, was killed in action.

Into Battle

This is one the early heroic poems of the War, when War and Death
were spoken of in glowing terms, written by one of the so-called
“gilded youth” born to privileged families and whose education
instilled in them an almost fanatical sense of patriotism.

TASK 7 How does Grenfell use various aspects of the natural world to show that it
is Man’s destiny to fight and die for his country?

Continue over

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World War I Poetry Julian Grenfell

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World War I Poetry John McCrae

JOHN McCRAE 1872 - 1918

John Alexander McCrae was a Canadian man of many parts – poet,
physician, author and soldier. He fought in the Second Boer War and,
when Britain declared war on Germany and Canada declared war as well,
McCrae was appointed as a field surgeon in the Canadian Artillery. He
wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ the day after he watched the burial of a close
friend in 1915 and it became one of the best-known and popular poems of
the First World War. He died of pneumonia at Boulogne, early in 1918,
and was buried with full military honours.

In Flanders Fields

This is a powerful and moving work in which the dead call to the
living, that it is their duty take up the cause and follow in their
footsteps.

TASK 8 How does the poet’s use of imagery succeed in making this one the most
popular and enduring poems of the First World War?

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World War I Poetry John McCrae

Read again the selected poems of Hardy, Brooke, Grenfell, Asquith and
McCrae and make longer notes on the extent to which they were intended
to encourage men to join the War by appealing to their sense of patriotism.

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World War I Poetry Charles Sorley

CHARLES SORLEY 1895 - 1915

Charles Sorley was born in Aberdeen and educated at Marlborough
College. Before accepting a place at Oxford, he decided to spend a year
studying in Germany. At the outbreak of war, he returned to England
immediately and accepted a commission in the Suffolk Regiment as a
lieutenant. In May of 1915, he was sent to France and within three
months was promoted to the rank of captain. In October of the same year,
in the Battle of Loos, at the age of twenty, Charles Sorley was killed in
action, shot in the head by a sniper.

‘All the hills and vales along’

The poem starts with all the rhythms of a jolly, marching song as the
troops go off to war. However, it quickly turns into a sombre warning
of what lies ahead of them.

TASK 9 What is different between this poem and the poems that have preceded it
in this anthology?

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World War I Poetry Charles Sorley

Hardy’s ‘Men Who March Away’. and Sorley’s ‘All the hills and vales
along’ are both poems observing men marching off to war. Make notes on
the differences between the two poems.

‘When you see millions of the mouthless dead’

This was the last poem that Sorley wrote. It was found in his kitbag
after his death. The fact that he is writing about the futility of losing
one’s life in war makes it particularly poignant.

TASK 10 How does this poem support the vision of Death as “The Great Leveller”?

.

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World War I Poetry A E Housman

A. E. HOUSMAN 1859 - 1936

Albert Edward Housman was the eldest of seven children of a country
solicitor. He was a brilliant student, educated at King Edward’s School in
Birmingham and St. John’s College Oxford. He is best known for his
collection of poems ‘A Shropshire Lad’ which he wrote while working as
a civil servant in London. The poems are pessimistic and show a
preoccupation with death. As a person, Housman was withdrawn and
unable to form any satisfactory relationships. The poem that has been
selected for study here is from ‘Last Poems’ published in 1922.

Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries

This short poem takes a cynical look at the fate of the soldiers, the
enlisted men whose wages were death.

TASK 11 What is your first impression of this poem? To what extent is it moving
away from those earlier poems that glorified war?

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World War I Poetry Hugh MacDiarmid

HUGH MACDIARMID 1892 - 1978

Born Christopher Murray Grieve he used Hugh MacDiarmid as his pen
name. On leaving school, he worked as a journalist until the outbreak of
the war when he enlisted and served in France as an orderly in the Royal
Army Medical Corps. After the war, he returned to journalism and was
politically motivated in his work, especially by the British Communist
Party and the Scottish Nationalist Party. Although he wrote during the
war, he refused to allow any of his work to be published at the time. In his
later years, he travelled extensively and received various awards for his
writing.

Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries

This is MacDiarmid’s response to Housman’s poem, even though it
was not written until 1935.

TASK 12 Make brief notes on what MacDiarmid’s feelings towards mercenaries
appear to be.

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World War I Poetry Hugh MacDiarmid

Make longer notes comparing the two poems by Housman and
MacDiarmid and the difffering attitudes of the poets towards the
professional soldier.

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World War I Poetry Sandburg, Frost and Stevens

CARL SANDBURG 1878 - 1967

Sandburg is the first of the three Americans included in this part of the
selection. Born in Illinois of Swedish immigrant parents, he left school at
thirteen. As a young man, he fought in the Spanish-American War of
1898 in the 6th Illinois Infantry during the invasion of Puerto Rica. He
went on to become a highly successful writer - journalist, historian, poet,
biographer, and autobiographer – and, during the course of his career, he
won two Pulitzer Prizes. During World War I, Sandburg served the
Newspaper Enterprise Associates as Stockholm correspondent.

Grass

The poet recalls famous battles of the past in the persona of grass that
reduces all those momentous events to a common level.

ROBERT FROST 1874 - 1963

Although he is generally thought of as a New England poet, Frost was
born in San Francisco where he lived until the age of eleven. He came to
Britain with his family in 1912, living first in Glasgow and then just
outside London. It was here that he wrote much of his finest poetry.
When the First World War began, he returned to America, to New
Hampshire, where he began his career as writer, teacher and lecturer. He
came to be regarded as one of America’s greatest poets and was awarded
four Pulitzer Prizes during his lifetime.

Range-Finding

Frost uses a pastoral setting to emphasise the violence of war.

WALLACE STEVENS 1879 - 1955

Stevens was born in Pennsylvania and educated at Harvard. He studied
Law and was employed throughout his life in the legal department of an
insurance company. He was a prolific writer, publishing several volumes
of well-received poetry in his lifetime. He is remembered as a major
American Modernist poet. The chosen poem here is not especially typical
of Stevens’ work. Try reading ‘The Man with the Blue Guitar’
(published 1937).

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World War I Poetry Sandburg, Frost and Stevens

The Death of a Soldier

In this poem, the death of a soldier is compared with the unchanging
season of autumn. When he falls, his death is seen as being as natural
and as expected as the progress of the seasons.

TASK 13 All three poets have used Nature as the vehicle for expressing their
feelings about war. Make notes on the different ways in which they have
achieved this.

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World War I Poetry Sandburg, Frost and Stevens

Historical Note:

The United States remained neutral for the first three years of the war,
only finally getting involved when German U-boats attacked some of their
shipping and a real threat of an invasion of American soil emerged.
President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany on 6th April, 1917.
It was not a popular move but he firmly believed that this was to be the
war to end all wars. Eventually three million Americans were drafted. Of
these, 53,513 were killed in action as compared to British casualties
numbering over three million with almost one million killed in action.

An area that you may find interesting to research is the American
Government’s attitude towards its war veterans which, throughout history,
has been the subject of much criticism.

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World War I Poetry Guillaume Apollinaire

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE 1880 - 1918

Apollinaire was born in Italy, the son of a Polish noblewoman, father
unknown. He adopted France as his country and took a French name. He
fought in the First World War, was badly wounded in 1916 and died of
the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.
He is generally regarded as being among the foremost poets of the early
20th century, and is credited with coining the word “surrealism”. This
was a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s in Paris and it was
part of the search for new forms of expression in the arts. In this earlier
work by Apollinaire can be seen the seeds of what was to develop in later
years.

Calligram, 15 May 1915

This poem is taken from a collection called ‘Calligrammes – Poems of
War and Peace 1913 – 1916’.

In a letter to a friend, Apollinaire wrote, “The Calligrammes are an
idealisation of free verse poetry and typographical precision in an era
when typography is reaching a brilliant end to its career, at the dawn of
the new means of reproduction that are the cinema and the phonograph.”

A calligram is a poem (though it can also be a phrase or single word) in
which the typeface or handwriting forms an important part of the focus. It
is a visual manifestation of themes presented aurally and textually.
Although Apollinaire was a famous calligram writer and may have
invented the term, he was by no means the first exponent of the art. As
early as the 4th Century BC, the poet Simias was writing poems in the
form of a double axe, an egg or a pair of wings. You may find it interesting
to read a famous calligram called ‘Wings’ by George Herbert (1593 –
1633).

You may also see Apollinaire’s work described as concrete poetry. This
is where the typographical arrangement of words is as important in
conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of a poem,
such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme, etc.

We suggest that you go to the Web and look up ‘apollinaire calligram le
pont mirabeau’. You will see a selection of Apollinaire’s calligrams and
hear him reading a poem that was recorded in 1913.

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World War I Poetry Guillaume Apollinaire

TASK 14 What is your opinion of ‘Calligram, 15 May 1915’? Are you able to
appreciate what the poet is saying and the form he has chosen in which to
express his thoughts?

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World War I Poetry Benjamin Péret

BENJAMIN PÉRET 1899 - 1959

Born in France, Péret enlisted in the French Army in 1917 and served
throughout the last two years of the First World War, seeing action in the
Balkans. After the war, he joined the Dada movement (see below) and in
1921 published his first book of poetry. Shortly afterwards, he left the
Dadaists and joined Surrealism (see below). He was an active political
militant and, in 1927, joined the Communist Party and fought in the
Spanish Civil War. He became an uncompromising believer in the
revolutionary nature of poetry

Little Song of the Maimed

This simple, short poem makes a bitter comment on the futility of war.

TASK 15 What is your first reaction to the sentiments expressed in this poem?
Is there an element of black humour in the cynical view of the effects of
war on the individual?

Dadaism is a cultural movement that began during the First World War
and involved the visual arts, literature, theatre and graphic design. It was
essentially an anti-war movement and its activities included public
gatherings, demonstrations and the publication of art and literary journals.
It was to influence later styles including Surrealism.

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World War I Poetry Benjamin Péret

“Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point
for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art,
a celebration of antiart to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in
the 1960s and the movement that laid the foundation for Surrealism.”
Marc Lowenthal.

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, best
known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.

Surrealist works feature elements of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions
and non sequiturs; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their
work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost,
with the works being artefacts. André Breton, who was the leader of the
movement, was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a
revolutionary movement.

Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War I and Paris
was the most important centre of the movement. From the 1920s on, the
movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts,
literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as
political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

W. B. YEATS 1865 - 1939

Born in Dublin, William Butler Yeats was one of the twentieth century’s
most popular and authoritative literary personages as a poet and dramatist.
His fame extended far beyond his native Ireland although much of his
work has its roots in its countryside and history. He co-founded the Abbey
Theatre in Dublin and, in 1923, was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature for what was described as, “…inspired poetry, which in a
highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”

On Being Asked for a War Poem

The poet did not relish the task he had been given and gave as his
reason that he felt unequal to the task.

TASK 16 What would your feelings be if you were in Yeats’s position and you were
asked to write a war poem?

Easter 1916

This is a poem recalling one of the most infamous chapters in
Ireland’s chequered history.

It is a very personal view of the conflict as Yeats knew several of the
leaders. Yeats does not take sides but regrets what has happened to his
homeland and fears that it will never be the same.

Before you study the poem it might be useful for you to have a brief look
at the background to the events of Easter 1916.

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

Ireland had long been a thorn in the side of the British Government and
countless ministers of every political persuasion had tried to solve the
problem without success.

In 1903, the British Government tried to buy out the Irish Landlords,
thereby giving the Irish peasantry a new prosperity. However, Ireland had
long wanted Home Rule and a scheme of devolution was declared. The
Irish have always been fiercely nationalistic but now their feelings were
becoming more intense with the formation in 1905 of Sinn Fein, which
means ‘Ourselves Alone’

In 1906, the new Liberal Government failed to honour the new Home Rule
Bill and more unrest followed with the formation of the Ulster Volunteer
Force that attempted to set up a provisional government in Ulster.

Ireland’s problem had always been one of religion. Quite simply, the
South had always been catholic while the North was protestant and loyal to
the King.

By the outbreak of the First World War, neither side was able to reach
agreement and Ireland declared itself neutral, feeling that it had no part to
play in the war, although the Irish were not averse to accepting arms from
the Germans in order to continue the struggle against the United Kingdom.

The uprising of 1916 lasted only six days but it was fiercely fought. It
began with Patrick Pearse reading a proclamation from the steps of the
Post Office in Dublin, stating the demand for an Irish Republic. The
fighting was fierce and there were casualties on both sides. It should also
be noted that, as a result of this unrest, many British troops had to be
deployed to Ireland when they were badly needed on the beleaguered
Western Front. In the end, Pearse was forced to surrender unconditionally.
Revenge from Britain was swift and many of the ringleaders were
executed the following month. The effect of this was to turn them into
martyrs for the Cause and people in Ireland, who previously had not
entertained the idea of an Irish Republic, now began to embrace it.

TASK 17 What emotions do you feel on reading this poem? How has Yeats dealt
with such an emotive issue?

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

TASK 18 Sixteen Dead Men

The sixteen men who were executed for their part in the Easter Rising
of 1916 are remembered in this poem as part of the long history of the
struggle for Irish Independence.

In what way do you feel that Yeats has adopted a detached tone in his
commentary on the martyrs of the Easter Rising?

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

TASK 19 An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

This is a very personal poem concerning an airman and his reasons
for taking part in the war.
Discuss the reasons the young Irish airman gives for his ‘lonely impulse of
delight’.

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

TASK 20 As an extra task you may like to compare Yeats’s poem with Magee’s
‘High Flight’ and see if you can detect a difference between the one
written by a non-combatant and the other written from first-hand
experience. Which poem do you prefer?

The next poem that you will study, ‘Reprisals’, is one of the same quartet
and you may wish to read and make notes on the other two, ‘In Memory of
Major Robert Gregory’ and ‘Shepherd and Goatherd’.

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

Reprisals

This, the fourth of the poems dedicated and addressed to his friend,
Robert Gregory, is a bitter eulogy in which Yeats emphasises the
futility of the young man’s death.

TASK 21 ‘Reprisal’ – Dictionary definition: Forcible seizure of an enemy's goods
or subjects in retaliation for injuries inflicted.
Why has Yeats called this poem ‘Reprisals’?

Yeats is without doubt one of the most important poets of the twentieth
century and you may find it useful to study a wider range of poems than
are included in this selection.

We would recommend:

• ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’
• ‘When You are Old’
• ‘The Second Coming’
• ‘A Prayer for my Daughter’
• ‘Sailing to Byzantium’
• ‘The Second Coming’

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World War I Poetry W B Yeats

Yeats is primarily a lyrical and pastoral poet and his inclusion in the
selection by Jon Stallworthy has been criticised by those who do not
regard him as a war poet.

Based on your reading of the five poems in this selection, and your wider
reading, make longer notes on whether you would agree or disagree with
the criticism.

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

SIEGFRIED SASSOON 1886 - 1967

With Sassoon came the beginning of a new breed of poet who now added
realism to the former “death and glory” poetry or the more reflective
poems written by non-combatants. Born into a wealthy Jewish family, he
was educated at Marlborough College and Cambridge, and his was a life
of great privilege. He enlisted at the very beginning of the war and his
experience of such bloody warfare led him to become the greatest of the
satirical anti-war poets of that period. He earned the Military Cross for acts
of exceptional bravery.
He survived the war and went on to become an established writer of prose
but it is for his poetry that he is principally remembered.

‘They’

This is a bitter, satirical view of the war, emphasising the perceived
difference between those at home and those facing the danger at the
front.

TASK 22 What are your initial reactions on reading this poem? Does it shock you in
any way?

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

Further Reading:
Regeneration by Pat Barker, which tells of Sassoon’s time in
Craiglockhart.

The Hero

This is a deceptively simple poem, echoing what happened in many
cases when officers would write to relatives telling of gallant deaths
when the truth was not so palatable.

TASK 23 How does this poem differ from the previous one in putting across its
message of the truth about war?

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear Guard

Here is a very graphic account of life in the trenches and all the
hardships that were endured, emphasising once more the futility of
war.

TASK 24 How does this very hard-hitting poem manage to convey the horrors and
atmosphere of the trench?

If possible, you should try to read a copy of Sassoon’s Soldier’s
Declaration in which he said that the war had changed from one of
defence and liberation to one of aggression and conquest. It is powerful
writing and it is to see how it must have really upset the authorities of the
time.

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

The General

This is a pithy poem full of irony in which once more the
establishment is shown as having very little understanding of the true
facts of the war.

TASK 25 How does the poet manage to convey a sense of humbug to the poem?

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

Glory of Women

Here is another ironic poem, this time about the role of women in the
war. It paints a somewhat unflattering picture of women as poor
creatures unable to bear the real truth about the war.

TASK 26 In this poem, what do you learn of the poet’s attitude towards women?

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World War I Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

Further reading which may help with understanding some of these
attitudes:

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

Everyone Sang

This poem was written to celebrate the ending of the war.

TASK 27 Contrast the mood of this poem with the previous ones by Sassoon.

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World War I Poetry Edward Thomas

EDWARD THOMAS 1878 - 1917

Edward Thomas was born in London of Welsh parents. From an early age,
he was determined to earn his living as a writer. He first worked as a
journalist and then became a poet as a result of the encouragement of his
friend, Robert Frost. At the beginning of the First World War, he was aged
36 and as such would not have been required to enlist. He did so, however,
joining the Artists’ Rifles in 1916 and, shortly after being posted to France,
he was killed near Arras, where he is buried.

In Memoriam (Easter 1915)

This short poem, not much more than a fragment, uses Nature to
comment on the effects of war on ordinary people.

The Cherry Trees

In another four-lined poem, Thomas encapsulates the sadness of
human loss.

TASK 28 How does the poet achieve such profound effects in such short poems?

Here are some notes that you might like to add to your own:

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World War I Poetry Edward Thomas

Rain

This is a very atmospheric poem, full of melancholy.

TASK 29 Make notes on the symbolism in this poem.

Here are some of our thoughts:

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World War I Poetry Edward Thomas

As the team’s head brass

In this very lyrical poem, the narrator converses with a ploughman
about the distant war.

TASK 30 As with the previous poem, make notes on the symbolism that Thomas
uses here.

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World War I Poetry Ivor Gurney

IVOR GURNEY 1890 - 1937

Ivor Gurney, composer and poet, was born in Gloucester. He began
composing music at the age of fourteen and, in 1911, he won a
scholarship to the Royal School of Music in London, where he was
regarded as an outstanding but difficult student. His studies were
interrupted by the outbreak of the war and he enlisted as a private. After
16 months at the front, he was wounded and gassed. During his time in
France, he wrote much of his finest poetry. By 1922, the manic
depressive illness, from which he had suffered since early adulthood,
became worse and his family had him declared insane. He spent the last
15 years of his life locked up in the City of London Mental Hospital.

To His Love

This poem is a sad lament on the loss of a much-loved friend from a
time of peace and tranquillity before the War.

TASK 31 Make notes on the way in which Gurney reflects on the loss, not just of his
friend, but of the life he knew and loved in rural Gloucestershire before the
war came and destroyed it all.

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World War I Poetry Ivor Gurney

Ballad of the Three Spectres

A soldier at the front confronts his worst fears.

TASK 32 Make notes on the contrasting emotions aroused in the narrator by the
three spectres.

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World War I Poetry Ivor Gurney

The Silent One

This vignette of an incident in the trenches emphasises the farcical
nature of the chain of command.

TASK 33 Make notes on the way in which the tone of the poem is in contrast with
the underlying message.

Gurney wrote over three hundred songs during his lifetime as well as much
instrumental music. Listening to some of his music may give you a
perception of the sensitive nature of the man. You will find some of his
music on ‘You Tube’. In particular, see if you can find his Slow
Movement for Violin and Piano; it is a deeply passionate piece and gives
an indication of the tortured soul that he became.

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World War I Poetry Isaac Rosenberg

ISAAC ROSENBERG 1890 - 1918

Rosenberg was born to a working-class Jewish family in Bristol but the
family eventually settled in London. They were too poor to send him to
University but three Jewish women, recognising his artistic talent,
sponsored him to attend the Slade School of Art. His health was always
poor and he moved to South Africa where it was thought the climate
would help him. Unsuccessful as a portrait painter, he returned to England
in 1915 and enlisted. From the beginning, he detested the War but hoped
that his first-hand experience of the conflict would refine his poetry. While
on night patrol in the Somme, on the Western Front, he was shot and killed
on 1st April 1918.

On Receiving News of the War

Written far from the arena of war, this is a wholly objective comment
on what Rosenberg imagines is happening.

TASK 34 Make notes on the anti-war stance that Rosenberg takes in this poem that
is in contrast to much of the patriotic poetry that was being produced at the
time.

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World War I Poetry Isaac Rosenberg

August 1914

Rosenberg wrote this bitter commentary on the outbreak of war two
years after the event.

TASK 35 Make notes on the symbolism in this poem.

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World War I Poetry Isaac Rosenberg

Break of Day in the Trenches

A moment in time is captured in these lines, leading to contemplation
of the insignificance of man in the eyes of a rat.

TASK 36 Make notes on Rosenberg’s liberal use of adjectives throughout this poem
and comment on their effectiveness in creating the atmosphere of the
trench.

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