"Almost Buried." One of the most compelling photographs of World War I, which dramatized the death and destruction that inspired the war's poets.
Credit: Courtesy of American Memory at the Libray of Congress.
The historian and literary critic Paul Fussell has noted in The Great War and Modern Memory that, "Dawn has never recovered from what the Great War did to it." He argues that World War I, with its unprecedented trench warfare and mass devastation across the European landscape, left a dark cloud hanging over the world. Despite the patriotism, optimism, and idealism held by the young men who eagerly fought for their respective country, World War I was fraught with widespread destruction and loss.
The very symbol of dawn, which traditionally would bring with it the hope and freshness of a new day, was reconfigured in a war like no other in history. Instead of the symbolic hope and freshness of a new day, the WWI dawn often brought with it the profound reality of a landscape flecked with causalities and devastation as young soldiers peered from the dark depths of their trenches. With dawn as a common symbol in poetry, it is no wonder that, like a new understanding of dawn itself, a comprehensive body of "World War I Poetry" emerged from the trenches as well.
Perhaps the most widely read and anthologized WWI poet, Wilfred Owen fought and ultimately died in WWI. His famous poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" presents a raw portrait of the life soldiers often experienced during the War. Edgar Guest, who was born in England and raised in the U.S., was in his early thirties when WWI began. Though he wrote about The Great War, he never fought in it. He worked at the Detroit Free Press newspaper as a verse columnist and has been called "the people's poet."
Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" and Guest's famous poem "The Things That Make a Soldier Great" enable close analysis of common poetic devices (e.g., meter, rhyme, tone, symbol, image, consonance, etc.) and of each poem's marriage of form and content. Different interpretations of WWI itself emerge from these poems, which ultimately offer a far-reaching literary supplement to our collective history and understanding of The Great War.
If time allows, consider using the following EDSITEment lesson plans to provide an overview of World War I:
For further overview of the war, consider having students review the WWI Photoessay from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Modern American Poetry to gain a general sense of the Great War. Students might consider the following questions: What do these photos suggest about the mood of the new soldiers? The mood of the civilians? What is the overall feeling that these photos evoke? How would you describe the weaponry of the photos of "The Somme, 1916."? Please note that some of these photos have potentially disturbing images of wounded and killed soldiers
Symbolism and Imagery: "Through Darkness to Light"
In the Trenches
Through Darkness to Light?
You can extend the lesson by studying additional WWI poems, including the following:
3-5 class periods