Poetry of World War I
Poetry of World War I
“I. Peace”
“III. The Dead”
By Rupert Brooke
Originally published in 1918. Excerpted from Rupert Brooke:
The Collected Poems, fourth revised edition, 1987
“I Have a Rendezvous with Death”
“Sonnet X”
“Sonnet XI”
By Alan Seeger
Excerpted from Poems, 1916
“Strange Meeting”
“Anthem for Doomed Youth”
“Dulce Et Decorum Est”
By Wilfred Owen
Originally published in 1920. Excerpted from
Wilfred Owen: War Poems and Others,1973
“They”
“Counter-Attack”
By Siegfried Sassoon
Originally published in 1918.
Excerpted from Collected Poems, 1949
F
or the soldiers who went off to fight in World War I, literature was the main form of entertainment. “In 1914 there was virtually no cinema,” writes historian Paul Fussell in The
Great War and Modern Memory; there was no radio at all; and there was certainly no television. Fussell continues, “Amusement was largely found in language formally arranged, either in books and periodicals or at the theater and music hall, or in one’s own or one’s friends’ anecdotes, rumors, or clever structuring of words.” For British soldiers in particular, writing poetry was one of the chief sources of pleasure. Britain formed its army with volunteers, and many of these volunteers came out of Great Britain’s high-quality public school system, the
British equivalent of private preparatory high schools and col-
I have a rendezvous with
Death/ At some disputed barricade,/ When Spring comes back with rustling shade/ And appleblossoms fill the air—/
I have a rendezvous with
Death/ When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
From I Have A Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger
115
Rupert Brooke (1887–1915)
English poet Rupert Brooke is perhaps the most famous of the patriotic poets, poets who celebrated England’s entry into World War I. Born on August 3,
1887, to a family of educators, Brooke excelled at school. He became part of a circle of poets at Cambridge University who rebelled against the poetry of their parents’ generation and hoped
“I. Peace”
“III. The Dead”
By Rupert Brooke
Originally published in 1918. Excerpted from Rupert Brooke:
The Collected Poems, fourth revised edition, 1987
“I Have a Rendezvous with Death”
“Sonnet X”
“Sonnet XI”
By Alan Seeger
Excerpted from Poems, 1916
“Strange Meeting”
“Anthem for Doomed Youth”
“Dulce Et Decorum Est”
By Wilfred Owen
Originally published in 1920. Excerpted from
Wilfred Owen: War Poems and Others,1973
“They”
“Counter-Attack”
By Siegfried Sassoon
Originally published in 1918.
Excerpted from Collected Poems, 1949
F
or the soldiers who went off to fight in World War I, literature was the main form of entertainment. “In 1914 there was virtually no cinema,” writes historian Paul Fussell in The
Great War and Modern Memory; there was no radio at all; and there was certainly no television. Fussell continues, “Amusement was largely found in language formally arranged, either in books and periodicals or at the theater and music hall, or in one’s own or one’s friends’ anecdotes, rumors, or clever structuring of words.” For British soldiers in particular, writing poetry was one of the chief sources of pleasure. Britain formed its army with volunteers, and many of these volunteers came out of Great Britain’s high-quality public school system, the
British equivalent of private preparatory high schools and col-
I have a rendezvous with
Death/ At some disputed barricade,/ When Spring comes back with rustling shade/ And appleblossoms fill the air—/
I have a rendezvous with
Death/ When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
From I Have A Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger
115
Rupert Brooke (1887–1915)
English poet Rupert Brooke is perhaps the most famous of the patriotic poets, poets who celebrated England’s entry into World War I. Born on August 3,
1887, to a family of educators, Brooke excelled at school. He became part of a circle of poets at Cambridge University who rebelled against the poetry of their parents’ generation and hoped