Poetry and Remembrance

It is undoubtedly true that the popular poetry of the First World War has done much to shape our views of the conflict and of how it should be remembered. A concentration over the years and in anthologies on selected poems of Owen, Sassoon, and their like, presents a seemingly ‘truthful’ (in that they were there) account of the horrors and futility of the War. Quite how representative this is of Owen’s views and Sassoon’s later views, or of the poetry of the War as a whole, is very much open to debate. Moreover, historians would argue that these views were not representative of the vast majority of combatants (ee for example Dan Todman’s take on the subject (2005, pp. 153-186) but see also  ‘Poetry as historical fact’ written in 1997.

However, what is equally interesting is how the poets who survived came to terms with what they saw. Below are poems from Siegfried Sassoon and Edmund Blunden looking back on their experiences. Have these also helped shape our memory of the War?

‘Repression of War Experience’ Siegfried Sassoon http://www.bartleby.com/136/31.html

‘Aftermath’ Siegfried Sassoon http://www.bartleby.com/137/30.html

 ‘On Passing the New Menin Gate’ Siegfried Sassoon http://www.aftermathww1.com/sassoon3.asp

‘1916 Seen From 1921’ Edmund Blunden http://www.aftermathww1.com/blunden.asp

‘Can You Remember?’ Edmund Blunden http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/48659-Edmund-Blunden-Can-you-Remember-

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