Introduction
World War I (WWI) or the First World War, formerly called the Great War, was a major war centred on Europe that began in the summer of 1914 and lasted until November 1918. It involved all of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (centred around the Triple Entente) and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility. It was the second deadliest conflict in Western history.
Literary Works
War poems were very famous during World War I. Poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon wrote poems reflecting the lives they led while they were at the war.
Wilfred Owen
Won the Military Cross by seizing a German machine-gun and using it to kill a number of Germans.
On 4th November he was shot and killed
Wrote famous poems such as Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce Et Decorum Est
Influenced by Siegfried Sassoon to write his own War Poetry
Showed the negative effects of war
DULCE ET DECORUM EST by WILFRED OWEN
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Summary
In a nutshell, Wilfred Owen was in the military and wrote on his experience.
He was heading back from the front line when they come under attack from gas shells. All of them manage to put their gas masks on in time except for one soldier and they throw him into the wagon and watch his painful suffering.
The last stanza is meant to reveal the ugly truth and reality of war so that people would not think that war is honorable.
Shows that war is senseless and far from honorable or glorious.
Innocent youth who are sent to the frontlines to fight the war die and do not get to live a normal life.
He himself was a youth when sent to the frontlines to fight the war.
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (September 8, 1886 - September 1, 1967) was an English poet and author. He became known as a writer of satirical anti-war verse during World War I
The Hero by Siegfried Sassoon
'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the mother said,
And folded up the letter that she'd read.
'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something broke
In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.
She half looked up. 'We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.' Then her face was bowed. Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy.
He thought how 'Jack', cold-footed, useless swine,
Had panicked down the trench that night the mine
Went up at Wicked Corner; how he'd tried
To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,
Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care
Except that lonely woman with white hair.
Summary
The poem describes a visit by an officer to deliver a letter from the colonel about her son who has just died. Outside the house, the officer reflects on the “gallant lies” that he has just told her and on the unpleasant truth of the soldier’s cowardice and attempts to get away from the front line. Now only Jack’s mother cares for his memory.
Sources
Poetry of the First World War by York Notes Advanced
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owena.htm
Wikipedia
Google images
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/33903-Siegfried-Sassoon-The-Hero
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