Overview of World War I Poetry

The poetry studied for this course was the most frank in the Modern Period. The poetry itself covers many aspects of World War I from the soldiers’ points of view. The titles themselves give away exactly what the poems will be about. The horrors expressed within the poetry is quite astounding. There is a gritty realism in the poems that don’t care for what may be on your mind at the time, they don’t care for your political affiliations, or your views on the subject of war. These poems offer candid connections with the authors. Each piece comes from someone who had really been there, and offer a sense of being there yourself, so far as poetry can manage it. There were no rules for the authors to consider; they wrote what they felt they needed to express.