1 The First World War in Poetry
Abstract
The present chapter deals with the significance of poetry for the cultural memory of the First World War in Britain. In a first section, it analyses ways in which poetry has shaped images of the war and of the ‘war poet’. It then goes on to discuss aspects of poetry as a medium for rendering the war experience, addressing questions of canon formation and the role of poetic traditions, of the referential dimension of war poetry and of the tension between ethics and aesthetics in the poetry of war. Another section deals with approaches to First World War poetry which have widened the scope of scholarly investigations to reach beyond canonical English war poets especially towards the inclusion of women’s poetry. The following section places the works of the major British war poets in these frameworks, aiming at a concise yet necessarily selective survey of phases of development, themes and historical contexts. The concluding section on resonances and legacies pursues some of the responses by later writers to the First World War and its poets.
Abstract
The present chapter deals with the significance of poetry for the cultural memory of the First World War in Britain. In a first section, it analyses ways in which poetry has shaped images of the war and of the ‘war poet’. It then goes on to discuss aspects of poetry as a medium for rendering the war experience, addressing questions of canon formation and the role of poetic traditions, of the referential dimension of war poetry and of the tension between ethics and aesthetics in the poetry of war. Another section deals with approaches to First World War poetry which have widened the scope of scholarly investigations to reach beyond canonical English war poets especially towards the inclusion of women’s poetry. The following section places the works of the major British war poets in these frameworks, aiming at a concise yet necessarily selective survey of phases of development, themes and historical contexts. The concluding section on resonances and legacies pursues some of the responses by later writers to the First World War and its poets.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- 0 Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions: Genres and Perspectives
- 1 The First World War in Poetry 37
- 2 Autobiographical Writing and the First World War 65
- 3 The Novel of the First World War 87
- 4 The Short Story of the First World War 103
- 5 The First World War in British Narrative Film and Television: From Visual Archive to Filmic Imagination 117
- 6 Gendering the First World War: Masculinity and Femininity in First World War Literary and Cultural Production 147
- 7 Indian Writings of the First World War 167
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8 Richard Aldington, Images of War (1919) and Death of a Hero (1929) 183
- 9 Enid Bagnold, A Diary Without Dates (1918) and The Happy Foreigner (1920) 197
- 10 Arnold Bennett, The Pretty Lady (1918) 205
- 11 Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War (1928) and War Poetry 215
- 12 Mary Borden, The Forbidden Zone (1929) and Sarah Gay (1931) 231
- 13 Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth (1933) 241
- 14 Ford Madox Ford, Parade’s End (tetralogy, 1924–1928) 253
- 15 Robert Graves, War Poetry and Goodbye To all That (1929) 267
- 16 Ivor Gurney, War Poetry 281
- 17 Thomas Hardy, War Poetry 291
- 18 Storm Jameson, That Was Yesterday (1932) and Mirror in Darkness (1934–1936) 307
- 19 David Jones, In Parenthesis (1937) 323
- 20 Rudyard Kipling, Poetry and Short Stories of the First World War 337
- 21 Vernon Lee, Satan the Waster (1920) and Peace with Honour (1915) 349
- 22 Rose Macaulay, Non-Combatants and Others (1916) and Other War Writings 371
- 23 Wilfred Owen, War Poetry 381
- 24 Ernest Raymond, Tell England (1922) and Other Writings 397
- 25 Isaac Rosenberg, War Poetry 407
- 26 Siegfried Sassoon, War Poems (1919) and The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston (1937) 423
- 27 R.C. Sherriff, Journey’s End (1928) 435
- 28 May Sinclair, A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915), War Poetry and Fiction 445
- 29 Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room (1922), Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), The Years (1937) and Three Guineas (1938) 459
- 30 Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop, Oh What a Lovely War (1963) 483
- 31 Susan Hill, Strange Meeting (1971) 491
- 32 Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War (1993) 499
- Index of Subjects 507
- Index of Names 515
- List of Contributors 527
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Preface V
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- 0 Introduction 1
-
Part I: Systematic Questions: Genres and Perspectives
- 1 The First World War in Poetry 37
- 2 Autobiographical Writing and the First World War 65
- 3 The Novel of the First World War 87
- 4 The Short Story of the First World War 103
- 5 The First World War in British Narrative Film and Television: From Visual Archive to Filmic Imagination 117
- 6 Gendering the First World War: Masculinity and Femininity in First World War Literary and Cultural Production 147
- 7 Indian Writings of the First World War 167
-
Part II: Close Readings
- 8 Richard Aldington, Images of War (1919) and Death of a Hero (1929) 183
- 9 Enid Bagnold, A Diary Without Dates (1918) and The Happy Foreigner (1920) 197
- 10 Arnold Bennett, The Pretty Lady (1918) 205
- 11 Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War (1928) and War Poetry 215
- 12 Mary Borden, The Forbidden Zone (1929) and Sarah Gay (1931) 231
- 13 Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth (1933) 241
- 14 Ford Madox Ford, Parade’s End (tetralogy, 1924–1928) 253
- 15 Robert Graves, War Poetry and Goodbye To all That (1929) 267
- 16 Ivor Gurney, War Poetry 281
- 17 Thomas Hardy, War Poetry 291
- 18 Storm Jameson, That Was Yesterday (1932) and Mirror in Darkness (1934–1936) 307
- 19 David Jones, In Parenthesis (1937) 323
- 20 Rudyard Kipling, Poetry and Short Stories of the First World War 337
- 21 Vernon Lee, Satan the Waster (1920) and Peace with Honour (1915) 349
- 22 Rose Macaulay, Non-Combatants and Others (1916) and Other War Writings 371
- 23 Wilfred Owen, War Poetry 381
- 24 Ernest Raymond, Tell England (1922) and Other Writings 397
- 25 Isaac Rosenberg, War Poetry 407
- 26 Siegfried Sassoon, War Poems (1919) and The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston (1937) 423
- 27 R.C. Sherriff, Journey’s End (1928) 435
- 28 May Sinclair, A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915), War Poetry and Fiction 445
- 29 Virginia Woolf, Jacob’s Room (1922), Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), The Years (1937) and Three Guineas (1938) 459
- 30 Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop, Oh What a Lovely War (1963) 483
- 31 Susan Hill, Strange Meeting (1971) 491
- 32 Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War (1993) 499
- Index of Subjects 507
- Index of Names 515
- List of Contributors 527