Kokkinis Chris English 345: WWI Literature November 14, 2006
Truth Versus Splendor: The Poetry of World War I
There is a very classical projection of war that the public would often, up until recent times, receive through Hollywood, the media, and popular literature. The image that those on the home front often see is the sort of thing that can be used as nationalistic propaganda. It is a sort of glorification of what it is to fight and even die on the fields of war. However during World War I, there was a rise in literature and poetry that showed a very different side of war. Poets like Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen took this approach, depicting the very horrors of trench life that those at home could not imagine. The typical look that the general public got of the war before World War I could be seen in the works of Rupert Brooke, such as his "The Soldier", first published in the New York Times in 1915. Because it was written before he reached the front, Brooke's outlook of the war comes across with a tone of pride and anticipatory of heroism. It can be seen as perhaps his last living testament, telling those back home that if he dies, he is forever grateful to his country for making him the man, and the soldier, that he is. He is very happy to be "A body of England's, breathing English air/ Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home." Proud of his heritage, he has no fear of making some far-off battlefield "richer" by baptizing it with the blood of England. Brooke's depiction of war in such a way could be due to the fact that he died in 1915, before actually making it to the trenches. Life in the trenches seems to be a
common root for the poetry of this war that showed the other, more hysterical and maddening side of war. The more notable poets of this era, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, wrote a good amount of their works together, often feeding off of each other's ideas. This is shown in the film Behind the Lines, which shows the experiences of several soldiers sent to recover from psychological wounds at a British military hospital. One of Sassoon's more famous poems, "Suicide in the Trenches", is a very cutting and seemingly angry poem. In it he tells of a "simple soldier boy," that once enjoyed a good life in England, with quiet nights and peaceful mornings. The second (and final) stanza is a vast contrast of this, now former, life. Although lacking the descriptive depth of some of his longer works, Sassoon makes very clear the misery and the horrific nature of the trenches. Very abruptly and without warning, the unnamed "simple soldier boy" takes his own life. Although this should be the most shocking line of the poem, I believe the following line is much more saddening and expressive nature of the hopelessness of the war: "No one spoke of him again...". The final portion of in "Suicide the Trenches" serves as a message to the people at home, the older men and women "who cheer when soldier lads march by". Sassoon is basically calling out those that have not experienced and are ignorant of what war actually is. It is not simply a spectacle of heroism and patriotism, as the political heads would like the people to believe. In a very harsh tone, he tells the people to go home and pray rather that cheer on the troops as they march by. Sassoon does not, however, tell us exactly what we are praying for. Perhaps it is for the safety of the soldiers, so that they might somehow return home unscathed; or maybe it is for the souls of the young that are
almost certain not to return. Or maybe it is a suggestion to the people to pray for forgiveness for themselves, as the simply cheer on the sons of their country as they march off to die for a tainted cause. Wilfred Owen's most well known poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est", also portrays a horrifying death at the front, this one in more vivid and descriptive detail. From the title, the reader would expect this to be a patriotic and idealistic war poem. Dulce Et Decorum Est was used as a motto at the beginning of the war; it is Latin for "It is sweet and right." It was adapted by many in England as meaning that it is an honor to die for one's country. However, Owen pulls a fast one on his readers. Yes, he does depict a man dying for his country. But it is certainly not in a way that we would expect from the title or that would idealize our perception of heroism. The man in question, as is in Sassoon's work, has no name. He is a representation of thousands of soldiers that would inherit a most horrifying and frantic fate. He is one of the myriad numbers of soldiers that was not able to survive a gas attack. Owen shows the reader exactly what a hysterical and frightening experience these gas attacks are: "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,/ Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;/ But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,/ And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . . / Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,/ As under a green sea, I saw him drowning./ In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,/ He plunges at me, guttering,11 choking, drowning."
This is a picture of combat that the people at home were unfamiliar with; most people probably were not even aware of the evolution of gas warfare. Owen's poem is a message to those that told the young men of the great fortunes and sweet satisfaction that awaited them before sending them off to fight. And in his final lines, what might be seen as the last thoughts of the dying man, he calls the motto, "Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori," the "old Lie." He feels as if he has been betrayed by his country, sent to die for a gain of a few feet of trench line.