Thinking Activity on War Poetry
*what is war poetry?
During the Great War, poetry had a currency that it lacks in the early twenty-first century. Newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, anthologies, and individual collections featured poems by combatants and non-combatants, by men and by women, at "home" or near the front lines. Poetry seemed a natural outlet for the intense emotions generated by the war and its range challenges the concept that only those with direct experience of fighting, i.e. soldiers, were allowed to write about war. The Great War was a total war and no one was left untouched by it. Suffering, mourning, patriotism, pity, and love were universally, if not equally, experienced. Thus "war poetry" is as all-encompassing as total war itself.
Que 1) Note down the different of the all the war poets.
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Brooke was already an established poet and literary figure before the outbreak of the First World War. When war broke out he joined a newly-formed unit, the 2nd Naval Brigade, Royal Naval Division.
In the last months of 1914 he wrote the five 'war sonnets' that were to make him famous, including 'Peace' and 'The Soldier'. Brooke was travelling to the Dardanelles with the Hood Battalion, in March 1915, when he was taken ill in Egypt. Although weak, he continued to the Greek island of Skyros. There, he suffered an insect bite which became infected and he died of blood poisoning on 23 April. He was buried in an olive grove on the island.
Ivor Gurney
Ivor Gurney was born in Gloucester and educated at the King's School and then at the Royal College of Music. He showed great talent as a composer, despite being troubled by mental illness. He was rejected by the army in 1914 because of poor eyesight, but he managed to enlist in 1915 and travelled to France in May 1916 with the 2nd/5th Gloucester Reserve Battalion. He was wounded in April 1917 but returned to duty as a machine-gunner on the Arras front. By then his reputation as a poet and composer was growing with the publication of his anthology Severn & Somme and the public performance of some of his song settings.
After being exposed to gas during Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in September 1917, Gurney was sent back to Britain for treatment. He suffered a nervous breakdown and was discharged from the army in October 1918 with 'deferred shell-shock'. Following a period of immense creativity, his mental illness overwhelmed him and in 1922, he was committed to Barnwood House Asylum in Gloucester, and then the City of London Mental Hospital in Dartford, Kent. He stayed there for 15 years until his death from tuberculosis.
Wilfred Owen
When war was declared, Wilfred Owen was in France working as a private tutor. He returned to England and joined the Artists' Rifles in October 1915. He was subsequently commissioned into the Manchester Regiment and was sent to France in December 1916. In April 1917, after a traumatic period of action, he was diagnosed with what became known as shell-shock, and was sent back to Britain. While recovering in Craiglockhart War Hospital he met Siegfried Sassoon. There, with Sassoon's support, he found his poetic voice and wrote the famous poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth.
Owen returned to France in August 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross in October. He was killed in action on 4 November, just a few days before the Armistice.
Siegfried Sassoon
Sassoon enlisted in the Sussex Yeomanry the day before war was declared. In May 1915 he transferred to the infantry and was commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers, where he later met fellow officer and poet, Robert Graves. In May 1915, Sassoon was awarded a Military Cross for his bravery during a trench raid on the Western Front . He was wounded and returned to England in April 1917. Twelve weeks later, he made a public 'act of willful defiance of military authority' by writing to his commanding officer protesting at the continuation of the war. A Medical Board dismissed his protest as a result of 'neurasthenia' ( what we now call shell-shock), and sent him to Craiglockhart War Hospital. Realising that his protest had failed and not wishing to abandon his men, Sassoon rejoined his regiment in November 1917 and returned to France in 1918.
Despite being accidentally shot by his own sergeant, Sassoon survived the war and went on to write several volumes based on his wartime experiences.
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
Gibson’s poetry was greatly influenced by his experiences during World War I. Having been denied entry into the army for several years due to his poor eyesight, Gibson was finally allowed to become a soldier in 1917. Two years later he was injured, and left the battlegrounds. His wartime experience recognizably leaked into his poetry, and dominates whole editions of his work. A reviewer for the Boston Transcript commented on Gibson’s battle poems: “They are nothing more than etchings, vignettes, of moods and impressions, but they register with a burning solution on the spirit what the personal side of the war means to those in the trenches and at home.” A critic for the Survey, in a laudatory review of Gibson’s book Battle, stated: “Under the impact of the greatest crisis in history, he has been not stunned to silence or babbling song, but awakened to understanding and sober speech, and thereby has proved his genius.” Another collection, titled Fuel and published almost 20 years after Battle, contains poems on such subjects as industry, the city, and the sea. A Nation reviewer provided a mixed review of the volume, asserting that “Fuel has all the virtues and all the faults of the better grade of Georgian verse.”
Gibson has also been noted for his interest in bridging drama with verse. Though did not invent the form, the fact that Gibson attempted to write in this manner in the modern age reveals his willingness to experiment with form and style. Williams quoted Gibson in a letter to a fellow poet John Drinkwater: “‘I am not much drawn to theatre as a medium of expression... . I am intensely interested in poetic drama; and I feel confident that poetic drama is the art of the future—only I feel that whatever gift I have is more suited to make its appeal from the intimate pages of a book than from the boards of a theatre.”
Different between all War poet
All the war poet are belong to different background and different field like Wilfred Owen was private tutor, Rupert Brooke was already established as a poet wrote Five Sonnet, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson experience of WW1 willingness of experiment with form and style, Siegfried Sassoon wrote several volume based on his war time experience, Ivor Gurney suffered a nervous breakdown and discharged from the army, death by tuberculosis. All writers have different background and different perspective but all writers have same influence or we can see one insident of their life is WW1 all writers wrote around this World War.
Que 2) Compare any two poems with reference to the subject, style of writing and patriotism
The Fear – Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
I do not fear to die
'Neath the open sky,
To meet death in the fight
Face to face, upright.
But when at last we creep
Into a hole to sleep,
I tremble, cold with dread,
Lest I wake up dead.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, English and American poetry completely broke new ground. With the advent of Modernism, writers such as T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams advanced the possibilities of poetry in entirely new directions. Due to the dynamic breakthroughs and overwhelming public nature of the Moderns, certain poetic movements of this same time period have often been overlooked. And thus Eliot, Pound, and Williams are household names, while Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, a leader of the Georgian movement of poetry, is not.
Modernism, however, is a broad phenomenon to describe. In fact, Georgian poetry is at times included within the boundaries of Modernism. Yet Georgian poetry and, for example, Pound’s Cantos, could not be more disparate in style, content, and form. As Susan Millar Williams explained in Dictionary of Literary Biography: “The unifying thrust of the movement was toward realism and ‘sincerity,’ and against humanism, academicism, the romantic-Victorian tradition, and the decadence of the fin de siecle.” The movement was dubbed “Georgian” because George was the
Gibson is often recognized as a leader of the Georgian movement. Born in 1878, he grew up in northern England and received his education privately. The Queen’s Vigil, and Other Song, Gibson’s first book of poems, was published when he was only 24. The poet produced a fairly prolific body of work over the next 40 years. Originally, his poetry was charged with much of the fanciful material found in the works of English poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Alfred Lord Tennyson. However, Gibson abandoned extravagance for an honest, realistic approach to life in the modern age. This shift in literary ideology, traced to his 1907 volume The Stonefolds, marks him as one of the early heralds of a new way of writing. He was soon included in the anthology Georgian Poetry, which first appeared in 1912. As Georgian poetry caught on, so did Gibson, and he regularly contributed to poetry periodicals of his day.
The Target - Ivor Gurney
I shot him, and it had to be
One of us 'Twas him or me.
'Couln't be helped' and none can blame
Me, for you would do the same
My mother, she cant sleep for fear
Of what might be a-happening here
To me. Perhaps it might be best
To die, and set her fears at rest
For worst is worst, and worry's done.
Perhaps he was the only son. . .
Yet God keeps still, and does not say
A word of guidance anyway.
Well, if they get me, first I'll find
That boy, and tell him all my mind,
And see who felt the bullet worst,
And ask his pardon,if I durst.
All's a tangle. Here's my job.
A man might rave, or shout, or sob;
And God He takes takes no sort of heed.
This is a bloody mess indeed.
The Target:
-Written from the perspective of a soldier in the trenches He writes about how he shot a man and the thoughts he had after these events One theme of this poem is that death would be preferred to continuing in the war Another theme is that it seems like God has abandoned the war.
First Stanza:
The soldier wishes he didn't have to kill the other soldier Even though he is in the middle of battle, he still struggles to shoot someone.
Second Stanza:
He feels bad for the stress and worry he has caused his family.War is just as hard for the family members of those involved as it is for the soldiers
Third Stanza:
He worries about the family of the man he killed.Doubts that God is really there during the war.
Fourth Stanza:
Ponders what he would do if he died and met the man he killed. Says he would apologize, but would be nervous to do so.
Fifth Stanza:
He feels tangled and stuck in the war.
He thinks it is hopeless and that God doesn't care what happens.
This poem is written in iambic pentameter in five stanzas. The poem's rhyme scheme is AABBCC...JJ
Simple Language:-uses slang: "twas, a-happening, durst" There is a deeper meaning behind the simple statements:War turns men into killers God abandoned the soldiers Death isn't the worst part of war War is confusing and inescapable
Different between both poem :
Both are war poems but the difference is one: the fear poem is all about fear and pain of war, emotion between son and mother but the other one is a speaker who speaks as a soldier and sees a target and thinks to kill him.
The fear speaker speak they not fear to die but he meet death in the fight face to face as a soldier they death on the front of him they fight for nation they feel fear all time of their life because they don't know when they died in the last line he speak in his " Last creep into hole to sleep cold with dread and lest I wake up dead" He speak about last few minutes of his life.
In The Fear by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson following the rhymes like ABABCC and the poem The Target following rhymes iambic pentameter AABBCC.
The Target poem Soldier Or speaker speak he shoot others enemies and no one can blame because of the war but the interesting point or feeling soldiers mothers feeling or worriedness of their son this is the different point of poetry they protect us they have family they have feeling that is the fact. In last they speak God doesn't care what happens.
Que 3) Do you find any such regional poem/movies/web series/songs which can be compared to any one of the poems given here. Also, give a proper explanation of the similarity.
हो हो हो.. हो हो हो..
संदेसे आते हैं, हमें तड़पाते हैं
जो चिट्ठी आती है वो पूछे जाती है
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये घर सूना, सूना है
संदेसे आते हैं, हमें तड़पाते हैं
जो चिट्ठी आती है वो पूछे जाती है
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये घर सूना, सूना है
किसी दिलवाली ने, किसी मतवाली ने
हमें खत लिखा है, ये हमसे पूछा है
किसी की साँसों ने, किसी की धड़कन ने
किसी की चूड़ी ने, किसी के कंगन ने
किसी के कजरे ने, किसी के गजरे ने
महकती सुबहों ने, मचलती शामों ने
अकेली रातों में, अधूरी बातों ने
तरसती बाहों ने और पूछा है तरसी निगाहों ने
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये दिल सूना, सूना है
संदेसे आते हैं हमें तड़पाते हैं
जो चिट्ठी आती है वो पूछे जाती है
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये घर सूना सूना है
मोहब्बत वालों ने, हमारे यारों ने
हमें ये लिखा है, कि हमसे पूछा है
हमारे गाँवों ने, आम की छांवों ने
पुराने पीपल ने, बरसते बादल ने
खेत खलियानों ने, हरे मैदानों ने
बसंती बेलों ने, झूमती बेलों ने
लचकते झूलों ने, दहकते फूलों ने
चटकती कलियों ने,
और पूछा है गाँव की गलियों ने
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन गाँव सूना, सूना है
संदेसे आते हैं हमें तड़पाते हैं
जो चिट्ठी आती है, वो पूछे जाती है
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये घर सूना, सूना है
ओ ओ ओ.. ओ ओ ओ..
कभी एक ममता की, प्यार की गंगा की
जो चिट्ठी आती है, साथ वो लाती है
मेरे दिन बचपन के, खेल वो आंगन के
वो साया आंचल का, वो टीका काजल का
वो लोरी रातों में, वो नरमी हाथों में
वो चाहत आँखों में, वो चिंता बातों में
बिगड़ना ऊपर से, मोहब्बत अंदर से,
करे वो देवी माँ, यही हर खत में पूछे मेरी माँ
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन आँगन सूना, सूना है
संदेसे आते हैं, हमें तड़पाते हैं
जो चिट्ठी आती है, वो पूछे जाती है
चिट्ठी आती है, वो पूछे जाती है
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन ये घर सूना, सूना है
ऐ गुजरने वाली हवा बता
मेरा इतना काम करेगी क्या ?
मेरे गाँव जा, मेरे दोस्तों को सलाम दे
मेरे गाँव में है जो वो गली
जहा रेहती है मेरी दिलरुबा
उसे मेरे प्यार का जाम दे,
उसे मेरे प्यार का जाम दे
वहीं थोड़ी दूर है घर मेरा, मेरे घर में है
मेरी बूढ़ी माँ, मेरी माँ के पैरों को छू के तू
उसे उसके बेटे का नाम दे
ऐ गुजरने वाली हवा ज़रा मेरे दोस्तों,
मेरी दिलरुबा, मेरी माँ को मेरा पयाम दे
उन्हें जा के तू ये पयाम दे,
मैं वापस आऊंगा, मैं वापस आऊंगा
घर अपने गाँव में, उसी की छांव में,
कि माँ के आँचल से, गाँव की पीपल से,
किसी के काजल से
किया जो वादा था वो निभाऊंगा
This song is popular patriotic song in India This song movie name BORDER this movie based on real events war between India and Pakistan some soldier sing this song and remember their family, love, and friend in very emotional way in the end all soldier are die in the war.
This song's two stanzas relate with poems.
कभी एक ममता की, प्यार की गंगा की
जो चिट्ठी आती है, साथ वो लाती है
मेरे दिन बचपन के, खेल वो आंगन के
वो साया आंचल का, वो टीका काजल का
वो लोरी रातों में, वो नरमी हाथों में
वो चाहत आँखों में, वो चिंता बातों में
बिगड़ना ऊपर से, मोहब्बत अंदर से,
करे वो देवी माँ, यही हर खत में पूछे मेरी माँ
के घर कब आओगे, के घर कब आओगे
लिखो कब आओगे
के तुम बिन आँगन सूना, सूना है
In this stanza the memories of mother and her love of her child we can see the touchwood of mother in her talks worried of her son and every letter she wrote she asked one this is when you come home?
वहीं थोड़ी दूर है घर मेरा, मेरे घर में है
मेरी बूढ़ी माँ, मेरी माँ के पैरों को छू के तू
उसे उसके बेटे का नाम दे
In this stanza, a soldier makes a messenger air massage her mother by touching her foot 'I am alive' and give her my name.
So, this is not more similar to war poetry but I can try to find it similarly. I found one similar in both and that is the feeling and love of mother Indian soldiers and war soldiers are similar in them.
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