World War I Poetry
Posted: Fri May 21, 2021 9:30 am
I was talking with my daughter this morning about World War I, and I told her that there a lot of famous poems written by soldiers during the war. I found the text of "Suicide in the Trenches," which is one of my favorites, and read it to her.
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
I find this unbelievably horrible and sad, and it hits me hard. I always think of that last stanza when people cheer on wars, or mindlessly praise the military. I never served, and certainly never saw combat, but I know enough about the latter to know how lucky that makes me.
I don't know if other wars spawned as much poetry about the wars themselves. It does seem that there are a lot great World War I poems.
I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.
I find this unbelievably horrible and sad, and it hits me hard. I always think of that last stanza when people cheer on wars, or mindlessly praise the military. I never served, and certainly never saw combat, but I know enough about the latter to know how lucky that makes me.
I don't know if other wars spawned as much poetry about the wars themselves. It does seem that there are a lot great World War I poems.