•
The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
•
"Honour the Charge they made!" "While horse and hero fell" - patriotic, presents war positively.
•
"Someone had blunder'd" - blames Generals - interesting as it is before WWI, about the Boer war. So perhaps realistic in this sense?
•
Vitai Lampada, by Sir Henry Newbolt
•
Compare war to a game, "But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks, 'play up! play up! and play the game!'"
•
Realistic, "The sand of the desert is sodden red/Red with the wreck of a square that broke/The gatling's jammed and the colonel dead/And the regiment blind with dust and smoke". Despite this, see above point; the euphemism of war as a game enters here, comparing it to cricket - idealised.
•
Henry V, by William Shakespeare.
•
Ok, so at first glance it seems increbily stupid. But, IIRC, this did come up in an exam paper once, so hey....
•
Idealises war
•
Theme of comradeship, "We band of brothers" - this can also be seen in some WWI poetry such as Owen's "Greater Love" and "In Memorium" by E. A. Mackintosh.
•
Julien Grenfell is a good example; "we are all awfully well, except those who have stopped something", he wrote in a letter. "Stopped something" was slang for being shot!
•
Jessie Pope (a.k.a Owen's arch-nemesis! ) is another good one - incredibly pro-war.
•
"Who's for the trench - are you, my laddie? Who'll follow the French - will you, my laddie?" (The Call, Pope)
•
And Rupert Brooke's famous "The soldier" is also in this period, and rather idealised; "some corner of a foreign field that is forever England"
•
The poets that everyone knows, and I won't go into detail on - Sassoon and Owen. Glory of Women, Dulce et Decorum Est, "They", The General, Disabled, Greater Love and Survivors are all good poems by these two.
•
"In Flander's fields" by John McCrae, while written in 1915, is still more realistic than its contemporaries, "We are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow" - it's more in line (in themes etc.) with the later war poetry, but feel free to disagree with me
•
Isaac Rosenberg - "Returning, we hear the larks" - "but hark! joy - joy - strange joy" "Death could drop from the dark as easily as song, but only song fell"
•
Blackadder Goes Forth was used in an exam paper, and is good to quote, e.g. General Melchett (or General Insanity Melchett, as Blackadder calls him): "Anyone can see he's as sane as I am! Baaaaah!"
•
A quick google will bring up the script, and pretty much throughout there are links to later war poetry - the insanity of the generals, greater love, etc.
•
Journey's End is a very good play, with references to war as a game, with Raleigh's "rugger", love between officers and men when Osborne & Raleigh die, and realism through the deaths, Stanhope's alcohol problem, etc. Like Blackadder, open it at almost any page and you'll find a good quote to use.
•
Oh What a Lovelly War. Another play, this is much more humorous than JE, but still as hard-hitting and good to use, "Ye Gods! What's that?' 'Oh, it's a jerry, sir' 'what?' 'It's a leg, sir' 'well, get rid of it man. You can't have an obstruction sticking out of the parapet like that!' 'Hartcastle, remove the offending limb' 'Well, we can't do that sir; it's holding up the parapet!"
•
Recent books like Birdsong, Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy ("shotvarfet!"), Strange Meeting, etc. can all be used as well.
Scroll to see replies
•
Written in a simple rhyming scheme (AABBCC etc) which suggests innocence (or the loss of) as it reminds us of a nursury rhyme.
•
Very anti war - "You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye Who cheer when soldier lads march by,"
•
Portrays the loss of youth and innocence gradually through each verse, which is a major typicality of anti-war poetry. - "I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy," at the beginning becomes "In winter trenches, cowed and glum"
•
'starshells float’ --> fate, written in the stars --> natural, not monstorous. gentle & unthreatening
•
‘our fallen friend’ ‘waiting legions’ --> comeradery even in death, still loyal to war (listening to outcomes)
•
‘wound in the flag of England’ --> the fates of the men and the country are intertwined/ they are one entity/ dying for country
•
‘the guns will flash and thunder o’er the grave’ --> glory and importance (Converse to WO spring offensive ‘no alarms of bugles, no high flags’
•
‘What other’ --> naturally daaarling! War is a natural process
•
‘sun-god’ --> shows classical private education, god --> immortality, the service the men have done has given them this (reflected in ‘waiting legions’, sunset --> death of soldier, again natural
•
‘and leaves behind twilight in the world’ --> have made a difference
•
Also a good example of providing for future generations in the 4th stanza
•
Incredibly pro-war
•
Wrote three anthologies of pro-war poems including "The call" and "Who's for the game?"
•
She was despised by many soliders, especially Owen - he originally dedicated "Dulce et decorum est" to her, "If you too could pace behind..."
•
Her poems emphasise war as fun, a comradely adventure. For example, in "Who's for the game?", "the red crashing game of a fight" (compares war to a game), "Who'll toe the line for the signal to "GO!"" (again, sport-like).
•
It can be seen at one point as perhaps slightly realistic, "who knows it won't be a picnic", but the next line "-not much, yet eagerly shoulders a gun? Who would much rather come back with a crutch (that idea of a small wound again shown ironically in GLory of Women by Sassoon!) than lie low and be out of the fun?"
•
Very inspiring, "Your country is up to her neck in a fight/And she's looking and calling for you" - the personification and pronouns make the reader feel it is their duty to help Britannia in this war.
•
"When that procession comes/Baners and rolling drums/Who'll stand and bite his thumbs" - shaming those who do not go to fight. Contrast to "a few, too few for drums and yells" (The send-off, Owen)
•
While not a poet, Britten's diaries are still important.
•
She served as a VAD (voluntary nurse), and wrote diaries
•
Her brother and fiance were killed in the war, and the tone of her diaries shows the brutal realism in contrast to other female writers.
•
Prior from Regeneration - mute and doesnt know why. due to a repressed memory.
•
The Sentry (Owen) 'I try not to remember these things now'
•
Anthem for Doomed Youth (Owen) the military remembrance of the fallen - 'bugles calling from sad shires'
Last reply 11 minutes ago
Official University College London Applicant Thread for 2024Last reply 17 minutes ago
AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (8702/1) - 13th May 2024 [Exam Chat]Last reply 38 minutes ago
Official: University of Bristol A100 2024 Entry ApplicantsLast reply 1 hour ago
2023 ** Borders and Enforcement, Crime & Compliance - ICE - Immigration OfficersLast reply 1 hour ago
Official University of Edinburgh Applicant Thread for 2024Last reply 1 hour ago
Can I do economics degree without a level maths?Last reply 2 hours ago
BAE systems degree apprenticeships September 2024Last reply 2 hours ago
Government Social Research Placement interview questionsLast reply 2 hours ago
Official University of St Andrews Applicant Thread for 2024Last reply 17 minutes ago
AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (8702/1) - 13th May 2024 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 day ago
Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 1 (1EN0 01) - 5th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 2 days ago
AQA A-Level English Literature B Paper 2 (7716/2) - 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 3 days ago
OCR A-level English Literature Paper 2 (H472/02) - 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 3 weeks ago
Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (1ET0 01) - 17th May 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 (8700/1) - 7th November 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
Please mark my gcse english language paper 2 question 5!!!Last reply 1 month ago
AQA A-level English Language Paper 1 (7702/1) - 25th May 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
AQA A-level English Language Paper 2 (7702/2) - 5th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 17 minutes ago
AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (8702/1) - 13th May 2024 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 day ago
Edexcel GCSE English Language Paper 1 (1EN0 01) - 5th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 2 days ago
AQA A-Level English Literature B Paper 2 (7716/2) - 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 3 days ago
OCR A-level English Literature Paper 2 (H472/02) - 8th June 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 3 weeks ago
Edexcel GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (1ET0 01) - 17th May 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1 (8700/1) - 7th November 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
Please mark my gcse english language paper 2 question 5!!!Last reply 1 month ago
AQA A-level English Language Paper 1 (7702/1) - 25th May 2023 [Exam Chat]Last reply 1 month ago
AQA A-level English Language Paper 2 (7702/2) - 5th June 2023 [Exam Chat]