world war one poetry

Poetry has been an outlet for storytelling and communication for centuries, from Virgil to Ted Hughes. War poetry began as a way of “reporters” to inform the public on how a battle was fought and how heroes of old won glorious victories. There was no emotion or opinion from the poets in the earliest poems; they were merely informative writings. The First World War spawned a new more sombre emotional form of war poetry. This new form of poetry went through a rapid evolution during the war and changed many people’s common view of war. At the start of the war the poems were upbeat and propaganda driven. Near the end and after the war poems became emotionally charged tales of the travesty that is war. These new remorseful poems were backed up with visual aids that were never seen by the public in previous wars. The view and mentality of war had changed, as had the poetry.

At the star of the war propaganda was spreading through many forms. Newspapers, posters, radiobroadcasts an...