The First World War, during which a cumulative 40 million soldiers and civilians were killed or died prematurely (Mougel 2011: 1), gave rise to many powerful works of art and literature related to war. Poetry from the First World War constitutes a “key element in the socio-cultural memory of the war and its dead” (Minogue and Palmer 2018: 9). It can be divided into two major schools of thought: patriotic war poetry and anti-war poetry. War poets can further be viewed in terms of those who experience a war first-hand in any capacity—whether as a soldier, observer, or victim—and those who do not. Poems written about the First World War generally follow a pattern of emphasizing “the initial idealism and innocence of the volunteers, the shock of combat conditions, the gradual bitter…
3097 words
Citation: Carlton, Harriet, Jill E. Twark. "Deutsche Sonette". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 August 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40575, accessed 22 November 2024.]
