How does the poetry of the First World War reflectThe changing mood as the war progressed?

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How does the poetry of the First World War reflect

The changing mood as the war progressed?

World War One was a war fought between two allied forces, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance between 1914 and 1918. The Triple Entente was made up of three countries; Britain, France and Russia. The three countries that they were in combat with were; Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The actual fighting started in early August of 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne.

He was assassinated as he made an official visit to newly taken land by Austria-Hungary, what used to be Bosnia. He was shot by Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Russian funded Serbian extremist group that was against the possibility of Serbia being invaded just like Bosnia had recently been. This angered the Austria-Hungary hierarchy, and declared war on Serbia, as a precaution Russia got ready for war in support of Serbia. Germany, as an ally of Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia on August 1st and by the 3rd had also declared war on France. The Germans were aiming to invade France quickly, and to do this they wanted to avoid the French troops and cut through Belgium.

On the 4th of August German troops went over the Belgian border and as Britain had an agreement with Belgium stating anyone who entered Belgian territory should expect a declaration of war from Britain. So Britain declared war on Germany later that day. As a final response to Franz Ferdinand’s assassination Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on the 5th August. So within a week a massive world war had broken out due to one man’s death.

The British public were pretty enthusiastic at the idea of the whole thing and were very excited about the prospect of fighting for their country. Many young men saw it as an adventure, an experience that would only come up once in their lifetime. Many men were very keen to sign up as they did not want to miss out on fighting, as the war was only expected to last till Christmas.

These feelings soon changed as the war progressed and the stories and poems of so many young men dying reached home. The enthusiasm of joining the war before it ended at Christmas soon faded, as did the country’s enthusiasm. This was replaced with fear, depression and anger. These changes of feelings can clearly be seen in the poetry of the time as many poems like ‘Who’s for the Game?’ and ‘Peace’ were replaced with poems such as ‘Disabled’ and ‘Suicide in the Trenches’. Many of the poems at the beginning of the war were jolly, up-beat and really enthusiastic about the war. But as the country’s feelings and thoughts changed so did the moods of the poems. They became more depressed, dark tales, telling stories of illness and slaughter.

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How does the poetry of the First World War reflect

The changing mood as the war progressed?

Jessie Pope’s ‘Who’s for the Game?’ is a prime example of the country’s excitement for the war. It was a poem written for a national newspaper to encourage young men to join the war effort and uses an ABAB rhyming scheme. The government’s propaganda in this poem is easy to spot and this is just one of the prime examples. “Who would much rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the ...

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