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War literature

Well im onto my next module of my A2 literature course which is war literature. Including novels, poetry, letters etc. Has anyone got any suggestions of which poets to read up on or authors and books to perhaps do some background reding on or to just read?

Cheers!

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Reply 1

Toscar

wilfred owen , rupert brooks, sigfried sasoon.-poetry
catch 22 ,all quiet on the western front, novels
journey's end - plays

a few to be getting on with

Reply 2

lovelee-jublee

A few poems for you...

Wilfred Owen - 'Dulce et decorum est', 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and one that is really moving, 'Disabled'
Siegfried Sassoon - 'Enemies', 'Dreamers', 'Aftermath'
Isaac Rosenberg - 'In the Trenches'
John McCrae - 'In Flanders Fields'

Reply 3

mollie

You might like to go to the Imperial War museum website and then follow the numerous links to possible sources there. It is worth paying it a visit in its own right anyway.
"Oh what a lovely war" and the Pat Barker trilogy, Birdsong,
Vera Brittains autobiography,poems of Isaac Rosenberg, Anne Franks diary... should be varied enough to keep you going for a while.

Reply 4

Platinum Mech

Pretty much what the other members have just suggested. :biggrin:

I'd just recommend that you remember to read across a variety of different genres (ie. fiction/poetry, prose/play, satire/serious text etc.), as this will come in useful with answering the question. Some autobiographies might not be bad reads either -- Siegfried Sassoon's 'Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man', for example.

Reply 5

Sopheh

Try the play 'Not about heros', or Blackadder counts as well! There are loads of great war poetry anthologies out there. Dulce et decorum est is good, but it's so predictable, everyone will put that so I'd read more than just the 3 obvious poets (sassoon, owen, brooke).

As for films maybe 'A very long engagement'? And wasn't there a really crappy film out at christmas about when the british soldiers played football with the germans? That might be alright. Oh, and Ben Elton has a WW1 novel out at the moment.

Lots of women poetry as well, they can ask about the typicality of women poetry. Obviously Vera Britan - Superfluous woman and there was another female poet I can't remember but she wrote 'Lamplight'.

Reply 6

daveybaker

Do u reckon watching some war movies would be appropriate. Films such as Saving Private ryan or summit. Ive already seen it but i love it sooo much lol!

Any suggestions for moveis, programs etc...?

Reply 7

gemby!

all quiet on the western front - erich maria remarque :smile:

its a good read and important as it is from a german side perspective :smile:

Reply 8

Happy1

So far, i've read Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks (which by the way is absolutely fantastic), Journey's End - R C Sherriff, Regeneration - Pat Barker, Wilfred Owen's poetry (The Sentry is a good one) and Strange Meeting - Susan Hill.

I'd reccommend all of those... and the ones above which i have yet to read.

Remember, your reading needs to cover...:
Gender
Class
Home Front
Trench warfare
Views of other countries (e.g. Germans in All's Quiet On The Westen Front)
A variety of wars (incluing fictional ones)

Reply 9

gemby!

journey's end is good - went to see it be performed and it was well done

Reply 10

cappucino07

My favourite WW1 novel is Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

Also get Her Privates We by Frederic Manning.

Reply 11

Chester

Vera Brittain's poem "Perhaps -"

Reply 12

Happy1

Testament of Youth is good if you fancy reading something that's going to take you forever lol

Reply 13

Ariadne

Remember that you can't restrict your reading to just WW1 - in the exam there's one text pre-1800. You basically have to read everything you can get your hot sticky hands on about war. Try:

Homer The Iliad
Shakespeare Henry IV
Bernard Shaw Arms and the Man (a play)
Loads of different extracts in the Bible
Film scripts, such as The Trench , Gladiator , Cabaret , Oh What a Lovely War , The Land Girls

And then obviously all of the WW1 poets - Sassoon, McCrae, Graves, Owen, Brooke, Pope, Brittain etc. Also, look at Roger McGough's Square Dance , which was written in the 1960s as an attack on how easily people forgot the war. Good books include Birdsong , Regeneration , Forgotten Voices , Testament of Youth. Try also to read at least one biography or autobiography so you can talk about one poet in depth - the most common ones are Robert Grave's autobiography or the countless Sassoon ones around.

My advice: buy a copy of the Oxford Book of War Poetry - it covers poems of every nationality (including Haikus, which are just strange!) and from every era to do with war.

Reply 14

Toscar

i think also there is a book of womens first world war poetry somewhere ,which covers presumably
Gender
Home Front
Views of other countries (e.g. Germans in All's Quiet On The Westen Front)
?

Reply 15

Ises

Catch-22 is a definite must on war literature. I also recommend Captain Correlli's Mandolin, splendid novel.

Reply 16

daveybaker

Well ive just bought Catch 22 and Birdsong off Amazon for 1P!!!

Does anybody know any good poetry books like the Oxford Book of War Poetry and any note books such as york notes for war literature. I reckon i'll be needing them :confused:

Cheers for all the suggested and selected reading materials though :yy:

Reply 17

Toscar

Ises

I also recommend Captain Correlli's Mandolin, splendid novel.

eurrgghhhh! just eurgghhhhhhh! i destested it. studied it for A2, which i think has something to do with my disgust, but i always felt LDB was trying to say something really profound, and yet despite failing, couldnt accept this and kept on pretending that he had?

Reply 18

so_this_is_sam

trust me not to notice this thread til i'd posted my own :s-smilie:

Reply 19

daveybaker

Toscar

Hehehe the movie was just on C4 last nite. Not a bad movie actually, havent read the book though. Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz starred in it. They cant possibly be far off each other?