How do the writers of World War Literature respond to the theme of death?

Sarah Lister 13KW

The theme of death is a prominent one in the context of war literature. It is an important concept to include when considering the nature of conflict and there are several devices which writers use in order to attempt to convey this theme to the reader. The landscape of the piece often plays an important role in literature with the use of pathetic fallacy being sympathetic to the writers emotions and intentions. The harsh bitter realism of war can be used as a shocking device to expose the true effect of the conflict and this often leads to the questioning tone that is present in some of the literature. However, as well as this harsh reality there often appears to be a ethereal theme to some of the texts which adds to the idea that the reader will have difficulties to ever fully understanding the concept of death during the first world war.

The landscape of the literature is a way of showing how nature is sympathetic to the emotions of the writer. It adds to the depth of the literature, creating a more profound tone to the texts as it presents the idea that the theme of death in war time is consuming everything, including nature. In Isaac Rosenburg’s ‘Returning, We Hear the Larks’ the landscape is an essential part of the poetry with ‘This poison blasted track opens on our camp’ conveying that the war is not escapable, along with ‘sombre the night is’. The language used is harsh, showing the idea of death and destruction and particularly the use of night seems to provide the idea that the writer is lacking direction, lost in the concept of war. This is echoed in Richard Aldington’s ‘Farewell to Memories’ with ‘the colourless winter dawn hovered mournfully over a desecrated land’ there still remains this uncertain tone that the ‘colourless winter’ is hovering, almost suggesting that it may stay or it may not. This is similar to the idea of death, it was an uncertain factor of the war and therefore a battle for survival, shown by Rosenburg: ‘And though we have our lives, we know/ what sinister threat lurks there.’ This uncertainty and loss of direction can be seen in other World War One literature such as Vera Brittain’s ‘Testament of Youth’ where, in response to her fiancé Roland’s death she writes: ‘Yet I cannot feel very acutely-I don’t feel anything but an utter, utter weariness’. The female response to this theme is different as they are experiencing the loss from the home front rather than trying to survive within the nature of war but it seems to have an ‘elongated’ theme to it. It suggests that this loss of direction will remain for a long time and this can also be seen in Charlotte Mew’s ‘The Cenotaph’ with ‘There is a grave whose earth must hold too long, too deep a stain’. The perspective of women on the theme of war seems to support the idea of long term loss and that memories of the event will continue for another generation.

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Often, literature from the first world war can offer the reader a part of the harsh, bitter realism that came from the war, that would otherwise be lost in the metaphorical nature of some literature from the war. Aldington’s ‘Farewell to Memories’ shows the vulnerability of the youth that experienced death due to the conflict of the war: ‘That was the symbol of the youth of a generation, lines of crosses’. This poignant phrase was supported by other writers of the war, that a generation of men had been taken away by death. Owen’s ‘Disabled’ shows that those young people who survived the war found that their youth had been killed: ‘for it was younger than his youth, last year. Now he is old: his back will never brace.’ The death of youth is an important theme throughout first world war poetry, a poignant idea that a generation has disappeared and Mew’s reflection of this a year after the war, standing at the Cenotaph provides the reader with some of the hindsight at the time: ‘Where only yesterday the wild sweet blood of a wonderful youth was shed.’ The tone of a piece can often be very important in showing this harsh bitter realism and Rifleman Jack Brown’s account in Lyn Macdonald’s ‘The Somme’ has an informal, colloquial tone: ‘They’d gone as black as pitch…and, not to tell a lie, dead bodies as well’. This tone provides the reader with evidence of a real account, a personal account which shows the emotions of the ordinary man in the war. The use of this informal tone is echoed in other pieces of literature, for example Ruth Comfort-Mitchell’s ‘He went for a soldier’ uses the phrase ‘Billy the soldier-boy!’ providing once again the idea of the death of youth and a tone which provides a greater intimacy with the emotions.

There is evidence of questioning in this literature as to why the war had happened. Mew’s ‘The Cenotaph’ does this in the last stanza of her poem:

‘While looking into every busy whore’s face

As they drive their bargains, is the face

Of God: and some young, piteous, murdered face.’

Once again the theme of youth is examined and questioning why so many of a generation had to die. However, it also questions other sections of society as well as faith. It appears to be turning to several angles to ask why this happened, using a ‘collective why’. Sassoon’s statement of wilful defiance has a similar theme and tone: ‘I have seen the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong those sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust’ this is an important piece to show the questioning of the war in relation to the theme of death as it is from 1917, when enthusiasm for the war in society was wearing very thin. The language is succinct and Sassoon is concise in making his stand. It is the voice of soldiers who have seen the death incurred at the hands of war and wish to prevent it and therefore it provides a greater insight into the emotions of readers. Combined with Sassoon’s poetry like ‘They’ with ‘And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange!’’ it shows a criticism of many angles of society, like Mew’s ‘The Cenotaph’ provoked by the extent of death from the war.

‘They’ by Sassoon is an important piece in showing a lack of faith due to the destructive nature of the war. However, in some literature there does seem to be a theme of the ethereal, which presents the idea that the war was something that was unreal or impossible to comprehend. The idea of slumber appears to be prominent with Rosenburg’s ‘Like a blind man’s dream on the sand’ and Mew’s ‘In splendid sleep, with a thousand brothers’ as well as Anna Gordon Keown’s ‘Reported Missing’ with ‘The world’s adrowse in twilight hushfulness’. It provides a view of a different world, that the blind man can see his dreams but not reality, it appears to be beyond reality and into something more like an afterlife. The language is softer than that used to show the harsh bitter reality of war and is reminiscent of sleep, slower and more thoughtful. It removes the idea of death, destruction and war to create this ethereal experience, which can be said to be closely linked with faith in God as shown in the account by Rifleman Jack Brown: ‘I just said a little prayer for myself’. However, there is a contrasting view seen throughout some pieces of World War One literature that, due to the nature of war and the deaths of a generation of men, that faith in God was limited. This is shown in ‘Journey’s End’ by R C Sheriff with ‘Damn God’ as well as Sassoon’s ‘They’ with ‘The ways of God are strange.’

The theme of death in World War One literature is prominent but dealt with in a variety of different ways. The use of landscape, realism, the ethereal and questioning create a disbelief as well as an attempt to cope with the death of the conflict. The perspective of men and women differs as the women seem express emotions in a comprehensible fashion whilst the men, often scarred by the things that they have experienced provide the reader with less of an insight. This is supported by Aldington saying ‘There was no room for bitterness even, no need for speech’ and Margery Lawrence commenting on the perspective of men with ‘Darkness and silence received them and smothered their pain.’ The issue is dealt with in a style that provides the reader with an insight of the horrors of the war whilst also showing the opinion of society of the day on the loss of a generation. The language used varies depending on the intention of the piece from the harsh language of the realism to the ‘sleepy’ language of the ethereal theme. The writers successfully use a range of devices to respond to the theme of death during the first world war.