World War One Poetry
“While many of these poems do not address a particular war event, we’ve listed them by year, along with a selection of historical markers, to contextualize the poems historically. You may notice that more poems in 1914 and 1915 extoll the old virtues of honor, duty, heroism, and glory, while many later poems after 1915 approach these lofty abstractions with far greater skepticism and moral subtlety, through realism and bitter irony. Though horrific depictions of battle in poetry date back to Homer’s Iliad, the later poems of WWI mark a substantial shift in how we view war and sacrifice.
1914
Archduke Ferdinand assassinated. Outbreak of war in July/August. Germany invades Belgium. First Battle of the Marne, First Battle of Ypres. United States remains neutral. Trench warfare begins. The Siege of Antwerp. The Christmas truce.
“Channel Firing” by Thomas Hardy
“The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke (published in Poetry)
“The Dead” by Rupert Brooke
“Men Who March Away” by Thomas Hardy
“The Bombardment” by Amy Lowell (published in Poetry)
“Fallen” by Alice Corbin Henderson (published in Poetry)
“August 1914” by Mary Wedderburn Cannan
1915
Germans sink RMS Lusitania. The Dardenelles campaign. Battle of Gallipoli. Second Battle of Ypres. First use of poison gas.
“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
“Absolution” by Siegfried Sassoon
“Champagne, 1914-15” by Alan Seeger
“Marching” by Isaac Rosenberg (published in Poetry
“When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead” by Charles Sorley
“This is No Case of Petty Right or Wrong” by Edward Thomas
1916
Battle of Verdun, Battle of the Somme. President Wilson re-elected with campaign slogan, “He kept us out of the war.” Rasputin is murdered.
“Rain” by Edward Thomas
“Break of Day in the Trenches” by Isaac Rosenberg (published in Poetry)
“The Kiss” by Siegfried Sassoon
“The Messages” by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
“The Death Bed” by Siegfried Sassoon
“The Night Patrol” by Arthur Graeme West
“The Twins” by Robert Service
1917
Germans issue Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico, United States declares war on Germany, draft begins. U.S. troops land in France. Third Battle of Ypres. Bolshevik uprising in Russia, led by Lenin, headed by Trotsky.
“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen
“I Have a Rendezvous with Death” by Alan Seeger
“Two Fusiliers” by Robert Graves
“Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen
“from Battle of the Somme: The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden
“Counter-Attack” by Siegfried Sassoon
“Breakfast” by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
1918
U.S. President Wilson issues Fourteen Points to peace. Germany launches Spring Offensive, bombs Paris. United States launches attacks at Belleau Wood and Argonne Forest. Bolsheviks murder Tsar Nicholas II and Romanov family. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates, Germany signs armistice on November 11. Paris Peace Conference.“
“Futility” by Wilfred Owen
“Attack” by Siegfried Sassoon
“The Veteran” by Margaret Postgate Cole (published in Poetry)
“Repression of War Experience” by Siegfried Sassoon
“Spring Offensive” by Wilfred Owen
“Roundel” by Vera Mary Brittain
“War Mothers” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
“Glory of Women” by Sigfried Sassoon
“S. I. W.” by Wilfred Owen
[Source: www.poetryfoundation.org]