How Poetry of the First World War Changed

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How Poetry of the First World War Changed The First World War broke out on the 4th of august 1914. It was the first major war near bye Europe for hundreds of years. It sparked fantasies of becoming a war hero in young boys' and men's minds and because the government had assured everyone that the war would be over by Christmas, those young boys and men decided to join up in an attempt not to miss the excitement of war. Little did they know that they were being led to an untimely death at the hands of Germany! Poets were also just as patriotic as the men going to fight. Because of this patriotism the poets wrote about how glamorous the war was and how good it felt to die for ones country. This was all in an attempt along with many others such as propaganda to keep the number of men high enough to replace those who were lost. These men did see action but they were all mainly middle class people and the youngsters amongst them joined up together, full of patritisom and the desire to fight. But, before the front, they had to be trained. Because of this they did not see the true horrors of war and carried on writing patriotic poems. Fortunately for men still joining the war some poets such as Wilfred Owen did see the horrors of war and wrote very unpatriotic poems such as Dulcet ET Decorum Est., which was one of his most famous poems. And one of my own favourite ones. "Who's for the game" is the first war poem; this is recruitment poem written to encourage young men to fight for king and country. Jessie Pope wrote the poem in 1914 for the Daily Mail newspaper. Pope was rather accomplished and well to do with no experience of the war, she wanted to convey to people that war is a game and that it will be ove... ... middle of paper ... ...family relatives just maybe friends' because the family will be at home worrying and waiting. But your friends will be there, as they'll probably be lying there with you in the trench or shell hole. Owen is saying that everyone deserves a funeral especially all these war heroes that have given up their life. There is no dignity here even in death. In the long and tedious four years that the Great War lasted, 1914-1918, the world saw some very extreme poetry. There were three main aspects of poetry; recruitment poems for example Jessie Popes who's for the game and some very heroic poetry such as brooks 'peace' and along with reality poems, such as exposure and disabled by Wilfred Owen. The Great War affected many people's families and lives, and to me this seems that all the Great War poets found this to convey their feelings and emotions to the world.

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