2020 marks the 75th year since the ending of the last World War. Since 1914, there has been numerous poets that have written extensively on the subject of war, so much so that they have a memorial in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Their views are definitely not synomynous, and some tones are more positive about war and patriotism than others. We will be discussing three of these poets in this article: Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke.
Wilfred Owen is one of the most famous poets from World War One and his story is one oft retold for his tragic life story. His poetry exposes the reality of conflict and was known for its anti-war sentiment. He is also regarded as being extremely talented with his use of rhythm and rhyme in order to convey deep meaning. Unfortunately, his life as a poet was shortlived. He was killed on the Western Front a week before the end of the war, and his mother received the telegram informing her of his death on Armistice Day. Though he had plans to publish a volume of his works, apart from poems that had been published in magazines. His most popular poems are 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and 'Exposure', all of which explore the horrifying experiences he had witnessed on the battlefield.
However, not all poets shared the same sentiment as Owen. One of the poets that held a particularly romanticised view of war was Rupert Brooke, described by W. B. Yeats as "the handsomest young man in England", whose idealised sonnets have come to represent the patriotic attitude that the British shared in the beginning of the war, which is seen in his most well-known poems, 'The Soldier' and 'The Dead'. He died early in 1915 from sepsis, just as the mood in the UK was beginning to shift to one of wariness.
Finally, the last poet we will look at is Seigfried Sassoon, one of the most well-known poets during the war. His poetry acted as a heavy influence on Wilfred Owen, especially for its use of realism and was controversial for being anti-war at the beginning of the conflict. Some of his most famous works include 'The Poet as Hero', where he describes his rejection of acting as the soldier, as well as his taking of the pen as weapon, and 'The Last Meeting', about the loss of his friend on the battlefield and his rejection of the warmth of the living for a reconciliation with the dead.
Poetry throughout time has been a medium for capturing the atmosphere of a period and there is a lot that we can glean from that of war poetry. By reading these works, we remember those that have lost their lives, and we do not allow ourselves to forget that these were the worst moments of multitudinous loss in human history.
