Poetry of the First World War

by Marcus Clapham

The First World War was one of seemingly endless and unremitting waste and sacrifice.
Who will remember, passing through this Gate, The unheroic Dead who fed the guns?
was Siegfried Sassoon's anguished cry for those whose sacrifice seemed futile. Yet eighty years later it is because of Sassoon and his fellow poets - Owen, Rosenberg, Sorley and many others - that we do remember. This new anthology will serve as an introduction to the poetry of that great conflict, and the inclusion of a number of rarely anthologised poets, many from the ranks, as well as anonymous poems and songs, serves to bring a quality of freshness to the selection.

Genres: Poetry, War, History, World War I, Classics, Nonfiction, 20th Century

286 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Randhir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Poetry of World War 1 evokes a strong sense of tragedy and pathos. Most of the best poems leave us with a sense bordering on despair at the sheer waste of life in an atmosphere of sorrow. The Anthology has most of the best poems and poets, though leaving out Herbert Read is curious. At the beginning of the War, the war poet, influenced by his Georgian contemporaries, evokes a sense of hope, patriotism and courage but as the War drags on with its apogee at the Battle of Somme, one is drawn into the poet's despair and sense of hopelessness. Surprisingly this is closer to the great Romantic poets of early 19th Century. So many of the best died, some barely out of their teens, that one is gripped by a sense of melancholy while at the same time admiring the quality of the work. Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon are considered the best of this breed, though Isaac Rosenberg may be considered a better poet. The great quality of compassion shown by Owen raises him above others, while the strong sense of moral outrage by Sassoon, who was Owen's mentor, detracts somewhat from his work. While many consider 'Exposure' the best of Owen's work, I find 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' more evocative. Both Owen and Rosenberg were killed in the War, Owen just days before the Armistice. Some of these poets' description of the carnage of war is so grim that one is repelled and yet drawn. AG West's 'God! How I How I Hate You Young Men,' is particularly grim in its description. West was one among many poets who died in combat, a whole generation wiped out. Poets like Ivor Gurney, spent the last years of their lives in a mental hospital. For one brought up on the rhyme and metre of poetry, I found Neil Munro's 'Lochaber No More,' particularly appealing. I'm also surprised that Laurence Binyon, who participated in the War, was not included in the Anthology, though a stanza from his famous poem, 'For The Fallen,' is included as a quote at the beginning. The ANZACs invariably read the Poem during their Remembrance Day. I have frequently referred to the poets and their poems in my writing. Particularly worth remembering are:-
Into Battle by Julian Grenfell
In Flanders Field by John McCrae
Break of Day in Trenches by Isaac Rosenberg
The Death Bed by Siegfried Sassoon
Rendezvous by Alan Seeger
Magpies in Picardy by TP Cameron Wilson
Serious poetry critics may not regard them very highly but to us they evoke a sense of a horrendous bygone era with some grace like nothing else.

[Ernestasia Siahaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of poems written around the first world war, mainly by British poets.
I took my time reading this as it could be depressing at times.
The poems recount the many aspects of the war, from the call for war, the situation in battlefield, to the aftermath of it (the death of your comrades, facing your own death, surviving and returning home).
My main takeaway from this? That there is really no point of nationalism and patriotism, really, other than for wasting the lives of men. You can feel the same sentiment written by those that survive the war and return home.
“... Men sternly banded: banded for what end?
Banded to maim and kill their fellow men -
For even Huns are men
...” - Arthur Graeme West (God, How I Hate You)

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful visual presentation of WWI poems, though not the best anthology, particularly for new readers. All the contextual information is in the back of the book and comprises of short, author biographies; it is jarring to flip back and forth, but essential for understanding. An additional challenge: the poems are sorted by author's last name, and there is no table of contents in the hard copy.

Regarding the poems themselves, it is hard to "rate" the content of such personal material, particularly when many of the authors died in combat. One thing you do get in this collection is a range of pieces, from the most romantically patriotic to the most passionately cynical (the majority of poems, I think, fall into this second category). Thus, some of the poems are quite profane and gritty, just as others are more spiritual or introspective. The stylistic variety is equally broad, with elements of the Victorian, Edwardian, and contemporary.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed most of the poems, but I learned something from them. There is sometimes a cultural tendency to romanticize war, particularly the wars of our ancestors. To get a well-rounded perspective, it's worthwhile to read a volume like this; it is no less relevant today than it was back then.

[Aidan Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wide ranging insights on display are truly fascinating, from descriptions of horror and death, to cynical musings, to metaphorical confrontations with ones own death and, for those that survived, the legacy and aftermath of such events. For a hundred or so pages, we understand a defining historical event from a human rather than factual perspective and the insight into the minds of those that experienced it first hand remind us that it was a very human conflict.

[Alenka of Bohemia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no sense in trying to dissect these poems in terms of quality. Some are brilliant, some less so, but in the end what matters is how truly and faithfully they describe the hellish time they were written in. These poems, rather than being works of art, are above all else a memory, a testimony, and should be approached as such.

[Aline · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say I enjoyed reading these poems would be a lie - there’s nothing enjoyable about them. Each and everyone broke off a little piece of my heart and left me bleeding. They are filled with grief, sorrow and despair: sometimes overflowing with it, sometimes only a trickle. A worthy read, but don’t expect it to leave you happy.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read many books of poetry, but picked this up on a trip to the Virginia Historical Society Museum for the exhibit concerning Virginia in WWI. Several moving poems, sad poems and funny poems. Really gives a picture of life in the war.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool era of poetry

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is FANTASTIC. It's got depth both in that it showcases the lesser-known poems of well-known poets (Wilfred Owen), and in that it has a wide range of really striking poets that at any rate I've never heard of before. Particularly appreciated, besides everything included of Owen's: "The Zonnebeke Road," Edmund Blunden; Ivor Gurney; Isaac Rosenberg; "God! How I hate you, you young cheerful men," A.G. West; Edward Thomas.

[Gwnhwyfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a fan of poetry, but when I read this slim little volume (for a university course), I was struck by just how powerful a few words can be...

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a comprehensive anthology. Some poems and poets I had not read before.

[James McManis]

p.174