What difference did the experience of fighting in the First World War make to the way poets wrote about war?

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What difference did the experience of fighting in the First World War make to the way poets wrote about war?

Alix Kelly

In the earlier centuries, poets were inclined to present soldiers as heroic fighters who chose to fight and die for their country. Their deaths were presented in these poems as the most noble sacrifice, one of which they wanted to make. In English poetry, this tradition began in medieval times with a poem called ‘The Battle of Maldon’.

In Shakespeare’s play ‘Henry v’, Henry makes a speech before the battle of Agincourt, in which this attitude is evident.  This speech shows how poets used to view war as glorified and heroic.  Throughout the speech by King Henry the idealistic theme of ‘honour’ is evident.  King Henry talks to the soldiers as if they are on par with him and because he is their leader they have great respect for him: ‘If we are mark’d to die.’ He constantly refers to himself and his troops as ‘we’ which continues the idea of him being one with his men ‘he.... that sheds blood with me, shall be my brother’. This means that when he is so grateful and pleased to be part of the war they follow his feelings. Shakespeare idealises war and the idea that people are honoured and proud. ‘The fewer men the greater share of honour.’ ‘Strip his sleeve and show his scars.’ The idea that people will celebrate these heroic figures for years to come; ‘he’ll remember with advantages.’ This poem glorifies the heroic figures of war, which in turn can be used to manipulate soldiers into joining the forces.

Tennyson’s poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ also honours the sacrifice of the men who died in the battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. Like the first extract, soldiers were praised for their bravery and referred to as: ‘Noble six hundred.’ This poem is about a mistaken command for a brigade to charge at an enemy; this ended up with them surrounded and massacred by cannons, ‘shattered and sundered.’ The poem is set in the end of the nineteenth century and focuses on a similar attitude to that in Henry V. The poem has a rapid rhythm and uses repeats of words such as ‘death’ and ‘hell’ to emphasis the turmoil of the soldiers. This poem also has the idea of a glorified death ‘Valley of Death’ promoting the idea of a horrific blood bath. ‘All the world wondered’ shows the idea of their glory and praise being widespread as the whole world pondered on their war. The poem shows how the soldiers were defenceless but at the same time has no ideas of the mistake made, as they had to take their commands:

        ‘’Forward, the Light Brigade!’

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldiers knew

Some one had blundered.’

As Henry V also shows, these writers promoted the idea of a glorified death and honour that will never fade. ‘Honour the Light Brigade.’

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In a poem written shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Rupert Brooke romanticises a soldier’s death. The poem shows the idea of war being a duty and fulfilling is as romantically. This poem is naïve, idealistic and a romanticised personal view. He believes in the idea of ‘a foreign field’ and staying there for eternity and people shall ‘think only…. of me.’ He romanticises the idea of dying for his country and staying forever where he dies as ‘richer dust.’ He idealises the thought of when you die you’re at peace ‘and think, this heart, ...

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