War has been the subject of many texts, often capturing heartfelt perspectives. This is an educational webpage which analyses and compares the representations of war in two different poems, of which represent two different historical, social or cultural contexts.
Poets Bio:
Siegfried Sassoon is an English poet who specialised in writing war poems. Most of his poems compassionately bring out the kind of experience that people had to go through during the First World War, such as ‘A Working Party’ and ‘Does it Matter?’
Siegfried Sassoon is one of the most fascinating soldier-poets of the First World War. Sassoon is best known for his graphic, often shocking portrayal of trench warfare during World War I and the decaying psychological distress it imposed upon its contenders.
Siegfried Sassoon was perhaps the most innocent of the war poets. He was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1886.
Being an innocent, Sassoon's reaction to the realities of the war were all the more bitter and violent -- both his reaction through his poetry and his reaction on the battlefield. Sassoon also showed his innocence by going public with his protest against the war. Sassoon is a key figure in the study of the poetry of the Great War: he brought with him to the war the idyllic pastoral background; he began by writing war poetry; interacting with other poets; he spoke out publicly against the war and returned to it.
Context (A Working Party): World War 1 & Context (Does it Matter): World War 1, 1917
A global war centred in Europe, World War 1 began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. From the time of its occurrence until the approach of World War 11 in 1939, it was called simply the World War or the Great War, and thereafter the First World War or World War I. In America it was initially called the European War. More than 9 million servicemen were killed. It was the fifth-deadliest conflict in world history, servicing the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.
Poets Bio:
Siegfried Sassoon is an English poet who specialised in writing war poems. Most of his poems compassionately bring out the kind of experience that people had to go through during the First World War, such as ‘A Working Party’ and ‘Does it Matter?’
Siegfried Sassoon is one of the most fascinating soldier-poets of the First World War. Sassoon is best known for his graphic, often shocking portrayal of trench warfare during World War I and the decaying psychological distress it imposed upon its contenders.
Siegfried Sassoon was perhaps the most innocent of the war poets. He was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1886.
Being an innocent, Sassoon's reaction to the realities of the war were all the more bitter and violent -- both his reaction through his poetry and his reaction on the battlefield. Sassoon also showed his innocence by going public with his protest against the war. Sassoon is a key figure in the study of the poetry of the Great War: he brought with him to the war the idyllic pastoral background; he began by writing war poetry; interacting with other poets; he spoke out publicly against the war and returned to it.
Context (A Working Party): World War 1 & Context (Does it Matter): World War 1, 1917
A global war centred in Europe, World War 1 began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. From the time of its occurrence until the approach of World War 11 in 1939, it was called simply the World War or the Great War, and thereafter the First World War or World War I. In America it was initially called the European War. More than 9 million servicemen were killed. It was the fifth-deadliest conflict in world history, servicing the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.