The shift in World War I poetry from patriotic theme to the depiction of the dark realities of the war

Abstract

In the beginning, war poetry was all about patriotism, indicating nobleness of war, written mostly by civilians, who had no or little experience of war. But the poetry written by the soldiers painted a totally different picture of war. This paper is concerned with a comparative study of the work of First World War poets, such as Rupert Brooke, Laurence Binyon, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Brooke and Binyon's poetry was concerned with the theme of nationalism and the immortality of soldiers. But, Sassoon and Owen wrote about the horrific experience they witnessed during the war. Through their writing these poets countered and argued against all the noble ideologies related to war; instead, by expressing their true emotions, they depict war as inhumane, war weapons destructive and the lives of soldiers as uncertain.