The Poetry of World War I

The poetry of World War I (1914–1918) represents some of the most profound literary responses to the horrors of modern warfare. This period, often referred to as the Great War, marked a decisive shift in the collective consciousness of Europe and the world, as the unprecedented scale of death and destruction shattered the romantic notions of heroism and glory traditionally associated with war.

The historical context of World War I is essential to understanding its poetry. The war was characterized by trench warfare, technological advancements in weaponry, and massive casualties, which led to a pervasive sense of disillusionment and existential dread among those who fought and those who observed from afar. The sheer brutality of the conflict—resulting in millions of deaths and widespread devastation—profoundly affected the poets of the time, many of whom were soldiers themselves.

Notable figures in the poetry of World War I include Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke. Owen’s work, particularly poems like “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” is known for its graphic realism and condemnation of the romanticized view of war. Sassoon, like Owen, wrote with a fierce sense of anger and betrayal, exposing the grim realities of the battlefield in works such as “The General” and “Suicide in the Trenches.” In contrast, Rupert Brooke’s earlier war sonnets, including “The Soldier,” reflect a more idealistic and patriotic view of the conflict, though this tone was soon overshadowed by the darker, more reflective poetry that emerged as the war dragged on.

The poetry of World War I also represents a crucial stage in the development of literary modernism. The fractured imagery, moral skepticism, and irony evident in the work of Owen and Sassoon parallel the innovations of contemporaries such as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, whose writings—like The Waste Land (1922) and Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)—similarly grappled with the disillusionment of a generation. While many war poets retained traditional verse forms, their language introduced a radical new realism that dismantled the heroic idealism of nineteenth-century poetry. As Paul Fussell argues in The Great War and Modern Memory (1975), their work “permanently changed the map of consciousness” in English literature.

Women poets of the period, including Vera Brittain, Charlotte Mew, and May Wedderburn Cannan, also contributed significant perspectives on loss, endurance, and gendered labor during wartime. Brittain’s Verses of a V.A.D. (1918) and Mew’s “May, 1915,” for instance, register grief and resilience from beyond the battlefield, revealing how the war’s emotional and social consequences extended far beyond the trenches. Moreover, class distinctions shaped how poets represented the war: most canonical soldier-poets came from the educated officer class, and their writing often reflects tensions between command and rank, idealism and survival.

The legacy of World War I poetry extends well beyond the Armistice. Its influence can be traced in the “lost generation” prose of Ernest Hemingway and Erich Maria Remarque, as well as in later British poets such as Philip Larkin and Carol Ann Duffy, who continued to engage with the imagery and memory of the Great War. The poetry endures as both a historical record and a moral reckoning, offering a powerful critique of the social and political forces that enabled mass destruction. Its stark realism, emotional intensity, and profound sense of loss continue to shape how modern readers understand not only the experience of war but also the capacity of poetry to bear witness to human suffering.