War Poetry

The world wars spawned their own genre of poetry, some of which may seem remote to the younger generations. Born in London in 1959 I experienced some of the aftershock of war in such minor ways as an active school Cadet Corps in which we - too - had "Naming of Parts".

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(After recording the above I came across this page with a recording of the poet himself reading the poem. And yes, he reads it much better than I.)

For me perhaps the quintessential war protest is this, denigrating what must have been a popular saying: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and noble to die for one's country).

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Although it is of course much older, Ozymandias, Shelley's famous poem, belongs in this category, with its powerful double meaning.

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Siegfried Sassoon's "Everyone Sang" is not exactly a war poem, but he's certainly a war poet, and on that score I've included it here.

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