War poets

250 Pages·2012·3.42 MB·English

by  Rosemary M Canfield Reisman

Critical Survey of Poetry
War Poets
Editor
Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman
Charleston Southern University
Salem Press
A Division of EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, Massachusetts
Cover photo:
Chinua Achebe(© Ralph Orlowski/Reuters/Corbis)
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ISBN: 978-1-58765-904-1
ISBN: 978-1-42983-653-9
CONTENTS
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
WarPoets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
ChinuaAchebe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
EndreAdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
RafaelAlberti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
GuillaumeApollinaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
LouisAragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
JohnBalaban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
EdmundBlunden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
BertoltBrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
RupertBrooke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
W.D.Ehrhart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
PhilipFreneau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
RoyFuller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
IvorGurney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
DavidJones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
ChristopherLogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
WaltMcDonald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
WilfredOwen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
SándorPet¹fi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
PierreReverdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
IsaacRosenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
SiegfriedSassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
AlanSeeger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
LouisSimpson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
EdwardThomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
BruceWeigl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
ChecklistforExplicatingaPoem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
GuidetoOnlineResources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
GeographicalIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
CategoryIndex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
SubjectIndex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
iii
CONTRIBUTORS
Peter Baker David Harrison Horton Bernard E. Morris
Southern Connecticut State Patten College Modesto, California
University
Ramona L. Hyman Edward F. Palm
David Barratt Loma Linda University Maryville University of
Montreat College St. Louis
Jeffry Jensen
Enik¹Molnár Basa Pasadena, California Jay Ruud
Library of Congress Northern State University
William Jolliff
Carole A. Champagne George Fox University John C. Shields
University of Maryland- Illinois State University
Eastern Shore Irma M. Kashuba
Chestnut Hill College Richard Spuler
Anita Price Davis Rice University
Converse College Philip Krummrich
University of Georgia Vivien Stableford
Lillian Doherty Reading, United Kingdom
University of Maryland Mary Lang
Wharton County Junior Stefan Stoenescu
Theresa E. Dozier College Ithaca, New York
Prince George’s Community
College Michael R. Meyers Ryan D. Stryffeler
Pfeiffer University Ivy Tech Community College
Robert Edward Graalman, Jr.
Oklahoma State University Michael D. Moore Martha Modena Vertreace-
Wilfrid Laurier University Doody
Sarah Hilbert Kennedy-King College
Pasadena, California
iv
WAR POETS
Throughouthistory,warhashadabrutalizingeffectonthehumancondition,andthe
carnagehasseeminglybecomemorehorrificovertime.Technologicaladvancements
have led to even more efficient ways to slaughter enemies and terrify the citizenry.
Manypoetshavewrittenaboutwarsofwhichtheyhavehadnodirectexperience;itis
the“soldier-poet”whohasthefirsthandknowledgeofwhatwarcando,notonlytothe
bodybutalsotothepsyche.OneoftheclassicpoemsaboutwarisHomer’sIliad,which
datesbacktoc.800b.c.e.(Englishtranslation,1616)andtracesthecourseoftheTrojan
War.
WhiletheIliadisanimportantexamplefromtheGreekheroictradition,thereare
severalexamplesfromother,evenoldercivilizationsthatspeaktoboththegloriousna-
tureofbattleanditsbrutalconsequences.Ancientpoetswroteaboutlegendarywarriors
inordertofocusonabraverythatisatthecoreoftheheroicideal.Poetryfromthisan-
cientheroicageservedtobolsterpeopleandcivilizationswiththebestqualitiesthatit
hadtooffer.Awillingnesstomaketheultimatesacrificeforone’scountryorcausebe-
came the desired attribute for which all warriors should strive.
Aswarfarechangedoverthecenturies,thisheroicidealbegantoloseitsimpact.Fol-
lowingtheinventionofnew,morebarbaricmethodsofslaughter,itbecameharderfor
poetstorecountthelegendswiththesamefervor.WhiletheMiddleAgeshaditschiv-
alry,thevalorousconductofwarringsideshaddramaticallychangedbytheseventeenth
century.Scholarshavearguedthattheinventionofgunpowdernotonlyalteredtheway
inwhichwarswerefoughtbutalsomadeitimpossibleforpoetstowriteaboutwarfare
with as much enthusiasm, given that the combatants were now being blown apart.
Asthenatureofwarfarechanged,sopoets’encounterswiththeconsequencesofbat-
tlebecamemoreprominentintheirwork.Bythenineteenthcentury,evenmorehorren-
dousweaponrywasavailableforarmiestoexploit.Thetechnologyofwarfareseemed
tobeoutpacingmedicaladvancements,resultinginthousandsofwoundedsoldierswho
weredoomedtoagonizingdeaths.LordTennysonwrotehisfamous1854poem“The
ChargeoftheLightBrigade”inresponsetothetragicchargeofBritishcavalrytoward
RussianartilleryduringtheCrimeanWar.Hedepictedtheeventasaheroicactonthe
partoftheBritish,whichseemedtobewhattheBritishpublicwantedtobelieve.Tenny-
son,though,wasfarremovedfromthefrontlinesofthewar.Whilehisapproachturned
arecklessepisodeintoaheroicact,thiswasnothowallpoetsapproachedtothesubject
ofwar.ThepoetryofWaltWhitmanandStephenCrane,forexample,bluntlyexposes
thegriefandheartachethatcameoutoftheAmericanCivilWar.Bytheturnofthecen-
tury, it was obvious that war, skirmishes, border disputes, and other conflicts were
taking a heavy toll on the general population.
1
War Poets Critical Survey of Poetry
Poetry Responds to a World War
DuringWorldWarI,everyable-bodiedmanwasexpectedtoputonauniformand
fightforhiscountry.Thesoldier-poetalsowasthrownintothetrenches.Someofthe
mostmemorablepoetryaboutrealwarbyrealmeninuniformcamefromtheEnglish
poets who fought in that war. Men such as Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Isaac
Rosenberg,EdwardThomas,DavidJones,IvorGurney,andSiegfriedSassoonwrote
about what they experienced firsthand. Of these seven, only Sassoon, Gurney, and
Jonessurvivedthewar.Thepoetrythesemenleftbehindservesasagut-wrenchingre-
minderofwhatwartrulyisforthosewhoarecombatants.DuringWorldWarI,soldiers
weresubjectedtotrenchwarfareandmustardgas.Forthem,theexperiencewasnotan
abstractconcept,orapoliticalexerciseforthegreatergood.Itwasaterrifyingeveryday
eventthatthesoldier-poetfoundawaytotransformintopoetry.Intheheartbreaking
poem“DulceetDecorumEst,”Owenspeaksofhisexperienceatthefront;theopening
stanza paints a grim picture of a soldier’s dire situation:
Bent double, like beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
ThetitleofthepoemistakenfromoneofHorace’sOdes(23b.c.e.,13b.c.e.;English
translation,1621)andcanbetranslatedas“sweetandfittingitistodieforone’scountry.”
Havingpoetsputtheirexperiencesintopoetryhelpedtoeducatethepublicabout
warandaddedapowerfulvoicetothepublicdiscourse.Thesepoetsservedasrepresen-
tativesofwhatcouldhappentoallsoldiers.TheBritishsoldier-poetswerenottheonly
onestoproducehauntingpoetry;theFrenchpoetGuillaumeApollinairediedinthewar,
and his collection Calligrammes (English translation, 1980) was published after his
deathin1918.Thecollectionincludespoemsthatdealwithhisterribleexperiencesin
thewar.ThewarpoemsoftheRussianpoetNikolayGumilyovwerepublishedinhis
1916collectionKolchan,whichtranslatesas“thequiver.”“TheWartoEndAllWars,”
asWorldWarIbecameknown,slaughteredsomanyyoungmen,someofwhompro-
duced some of the most haunting war poetry ever written.
Poetry Continues to Fight the Good Fight
Sadly,WorldWarIIwouldengulftheworldbythelate1930’s.Notasmanynotable
English-languagewarpoetscameoutofthiswar;manyofthemostimportantpoems
aboutthewarwerecomposedbyFrenchpoets,includingLouisAragon,RenéChar,Pi-
2
War Poets War Poets
erreSeghers,PaulÉluard,andRobertDesnos.TheAmericanpoetKarlShapirowrote
about hisexperiencesserving inthePacificinsuch collectionasPerson, Place,and
Thing(1942),ThePlaceofLove(1942),andthePulitzerPrize-winningV-Letterand
OtherPoems(1944).SeveralAmericanpoetswhoservedintheVietnamWarduring
the1960’s,includingW.D.EhrhartandWaltMcDonald,alsoimmortalizedtheirexpe-
riencesinrivetingpoetry.JohnBalabanwenttoVietnamthroughtheInternationalVol-
unteer Services as a conscientious objector. He taught in Vietnam but was wounded
duringthe1968TetOffensive,andhis1974collectionAftertheWarisaharrowingpor-
traitofhowtheexperiencechangedhimforever.ThehighlyacclaimedNigerianwriter
ChinuaAchebedealtwiththetragedyoftheNigerianCivilWarbyresponding with
highly charged poetry. His 1971 collection Beware: Soul Brother and Other Poems
includes poems that confront the failure of Biafra to become an independent nation.
Over the centuries, poets have felt obligated to take on all that makes up a war.
Whetherthroughfirsthandexperienceorfromadistance,thesepoetshavehadtocome
totermswiththeverynatureofmanandhiscapacitytobrutalizehisfellowmanonan
ever-increasing scale.
Jeffry Jensen
Bibliography
Chattarji,Subarno.MemoriesofaLostWar:AmericanPoeticResponsestotheVietnam
War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. A discussion of how poets re-
sponded to an unpopular war.
McLoughlin,Kate.AuthoringWar:TheLiteraryRepresentationofWarfromthe“Il-
iad”toIraq.Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress,2011.Astudyof
how writers have portrayed conflicts throughout the ages.
Rodman,Selden.“TheVisionofArmies.”IntroductiontoWarandthePoet:AnAn-
thologyofPoetryExpressingMan’sAttitudetoWarfromAncientTimestothePres-
ent,editedbyRichardEberhartandSeldenRodman.NewYork:Devin-Adair,1945.
An introduction to the purpose of war poetry.
Stallworthy,Jon.IntroductiontoTheOxfordBookofWarPoetry.NewYork:Oxford
UniversityPress,1984.Discussesthespecialskillapoetmusthaveinordertowrite
honestly about something as terrifying as war.
Templeton,Alice.“What’stheUse?WritingPoetryinWartime.”CollegeLiterature
34,no.4(Fall,2007):43-63. Considerswhetherpoetrycanretainitsvaluewhile
standing up to the reality of war.
Silkin, Jon. Introduction to The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. London:
Allen Lane, 1979. An introduction to the soldier-poets of World War I.
Winn,JamesAnderson.ThePoetryofWar.Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniver-
sityPress,2008.Speakstohowthemasterwarpoetsareabletoconfrontthe“terrible
beauty” that is war.
3
CHINUA ACHEBE
Born:Ogidi, Nigeria; November 16, 1930
Principal poetry
Beware, Soul Brother, and Other Poems, 1971, 1972
Christmas in Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973
Collected Poems, 2004
Other literary forms
ChinuaAchebe(ah-CHAY-bay)isawriterwhohasmadeimportantcontributionsin
everyliterarygenre.Heisknownprimarilyforhisfirstnovel,ThingsFallApart(1959).
HisothernovelsincludeNoLongeratEase(1960),ArrowofGod(1964),AManofthe
People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe’s short stories are col-
lectedinTheSacrificialEgg,andOtherStories(1962)andGirlsatWar,andOtherSto-
ries(1972).Hehasalsopublishedcollectionsofessays:MorningYetonCreationDay
(1975),AnImageofAfrica(1977),TheTroublewithNigeria(1983),HopesandImped-
iments (1988), Home and Exile (2000), and Education of a British-Protected Child
(2009).Inadditiontohiscontributionsasapoet,novelist,short-storywriter,andessay-
ist,Achehaswrittenbooksforchildren:ChikeandtheRiver(1966),HowtheLeopard
GotHisClaws(1972;withJohnIroaganachi),TheFlute(1977),andTheDrum(1977).
Hehasalsoeditednumerousworks,includingDon’tLetHimDie:AnAnthologyofMe-
morial Poems for Christopher Okigbo, 1937-1967 (1978; with Dubem Okafor).
Achievements
Chinua Achebe is known as the founder of modern African writing. His many
awardsincludetheMargaretWrongMemorialPrize(1959)forThingsFallApart,the
Nigerian National Trophy for Literature (1961), the Jock Campbell-New Statesman
AwardforLiteratureforArrowofGod(1966),theCommonwealthPoetryPrize(1972,
jointwinner),theAfro-AsianWritersAssociation’sLotusAward(1975),theNigerian
NationalMeritAward(1979),theTripleEminenceAwardfromtheAssociationofNi-
gerianAuthors(1990),theLangstonHughesAward(1993),theCampionMedaland
OrderofKilimanjaroAward(both1996),theGermanBooksellersPeacePrize(2002),
andtheManBookerInternationalPrize(2007).HewasnamedOfficeroftheOrderof
theFederalRepublic(Nigeria)in1979,afellowoftheRoyalSocietyofLiteraturein
1981,anhonoraryforeignfellowoftheAmericanAcademyandInstituteofArtsand
Lettersin1982,andanhonoraryfellowoftheAmericanAcademyofArtsandScience
in2002.In1998,hewastheMcMillan-StewardLectureratHarvardUniversityandthe
Presidential Fellow Lecturer at the World Bank.
4
War Poets Achebe, Chinua
Biography
AlbertChinualumoguAchebewasbornthefifthofsixchildrenofeducatedIgbo
parents,IsaiahOkaforAchebeandJanetAnaenechiAchebe.HewasborninOgidi,a
townintheeasternregionofNigeria.AfterconvertingtoChristianity,Achebe’sfather
servedasacatechistfortheChurchMissionarySociety.From1944to1948,Achebeat-
tendedtheGovernmentCollege,Umuahia,ahighlycompetitiveschool,thenreceived
a scholarship to the University College, Ibadan (University of Ibadan). Initially,
Achebe’scollegiategoalwastostudymedicine;however,hisgoalschangedbecauseof
hisinterestintheacademicareasofreligion,history,andEnglishliterature.Whileatthe
UniversityCollege,Achebeandseveralotherstudentsfoundedaliteraryjournal,The
UniversityHerald.Inadditiontopublishingworksinthejournal,Achebeservedasthe
editor during his third year of matriculation at the institution.
After graduation in 1953, Achebe served as a teacher at the Merchant of Light
School.HebeganworkingfortheNigerianBroadcastingCorporationin1954,andtwo
yearslater,hetrainedattheBritishBroadcastingCorporation.Hepublishedtheinaugu-
raltextfortheHeinemannAfricanWritersseries,ThingsFallApart,in1959.Thepubli-
cationofthisnovelsignificantlychangedthetrajectoryofAchebe’swritingcareerand
hislife.Thenovelhasbeenpublishedinmanylanguagesandhassoldmorethaneight
millioncopies.Moreover,ThingsFallApartusheredAchebeintothecenterofthecriti-
calconversationonAfricanliteratureandsocial-politicalthought,givinghimacentral
place in the canon of world literature.
In addition to a prolific writing career, Achebe has had an outstanding academic
portfolio.HisvisitingprofessorshipsincludepostsattheUniversityofMassachusettsat
Amherst(1972-1975),theUniversityofConnecticut(1975-1976),andCityCollegeof
the City University of New York (1989). In 1986, Achebe was appointed pro-vice-
chancelloroftheStateUniversityofAnambra inEnugu. Achebe wastheCharlesP.
StevensonProfessorofLanguagesandLiteratureatBardCollegein1990-2009.InSep-
tember,2009,hebecametheDavidandMariannaFisherUniversityProfessorandpro-
fessor of Africana studies at Brown University.
InadditiontobeingoneofAfrica’smostinfluentialwriters,Achebeisafamilyman.
OnSeptember10,1961,hemarriedChristieChinweOkoli,aprofessorofpsychology.
The couple had four children, Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, and Nwando.
Analysis
ThethematicconcernofChinuaAchebe’slifeandwritingistoarticulatethemean-
ingofwhatitistobeAfricanfromtheperspectiveofonewhoisauthenticallyAfrican.
CriticNahemYousafhassaidthatAchebe’sintentasawriteristo“challengetheinsidi-
ousstoriesinwhichthecolonizedanddispossessedarerenderedinhumanandineptin
ordertomakeheroesofthe‘hunter’colonialists,andtoshoreupthememoirsofcolo-
nialapologists.”AchebeexpresseshisloveforandcritiqueofAfrica,specificallyNige-
5