War poets PDF
Preview War poets
Critical Survey of Poetry War Poets Editor Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman Charleston Southern University Salem Press A Division of EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, Massachusetts Cover photo: Chinua Achebe(© Ralph Orlowski/Reuters/Corbis) Copyright © 2012, by Salem Press, A Division of EBSCO Publishing, Inc. Allrightsinthisbookarereserved.Nopartofthisworkmaybeusedorreproduced inanymannerwhatsoeverortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicor mechanical,includingphotocopy,recording,oranyinformationstorageandretrieval system,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthecopyrightownerexceptinthecaseofbrief quotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesandreviewsorinthecopyingofimagesdeemed to be freely licensed or in the public domain. For information address the publisher, Salem Press, at [email protected]. ISBN: 978-1-58765-904-1 ISBN: 978-1-42983-653-9 CONTENTS Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv WarPoets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ChinuaAchebe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 EndreAdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 RafaelAlberti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 GuillaumeApollinaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 LouisAragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 JohnBalaban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 EdmundBlunden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 BertoltBrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 RupertBrooke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 W.D.Ehrhart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 PhilipFreneau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 RoyFuller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 IvorGurney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 DavidJones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 ChristopherLogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 WaltMcDonald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 WilfredOwen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 SándorPet¹fi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 PierreReverdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 IsaacRosenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 SiegfriedSassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 AlanSeeger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 LouisSimpson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 EdwardThomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 BruceWeigl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 ChecklistforExplicatingaPoem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 GuidetoOnlineResources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 GeographicalIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 CategoryIndex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 SubjectIndex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 iii CONTRIBUTORS Peter Baker David Harrison Horton Bernard E. Morris Southern Connecticut State Patten College Modesto, California University Ramona L. Hyman Edward F. Palm David Barratt Loma Linda University Maryville University of Montreat College St. Louis Jeffry Jensen Enik¹Molnár Basa Pasadena, California Jay Ruud Library of Congress Northern State University William Jolliff Carole A. Champagne George Fox University John C. Shields University of Maryland- Illinois State University Eastern Shore Irma M. Kashuba Chestnut Hill College Richard Spuler Anita Price Davis Rice University Converse College Philip Krummrich University of Georgia Vivien Stableford Lillian Doherty Reading, United Kingdom University of Maryland Mary Lang Wharton County Junior Stefan Stoenescu Theresa E. Dozier College Ithaca, New York Prince George’s Community College Michael R. Meyers Ryan D. Stryffeler Pfeiffer University Ivy Tech Community College Robert Edward Graalman, Jr. Oklahoma State University Michael D. Moore Martha Modena Vertreace- Wilfrid Laurier University Doody Sarah Hilbert Kennedy-King College Pasadena, California iv WAR POETS Throughouthistory,warhashadabrutalizingeffectonthehumancondition,andthe carnagehasseeminglybecomemorehorrificovertime.Technologicaladvancements have led to even more efficient ways to slaughter enemies and terrify the citizenry. Manypoetshavewrittenaboutwarsofwhichtheyhavehadnodirectexperience;itis the“soldier-poet”whohasthefirsthandknowledgeofwhatwarcando,notonlytothe bodybutalsotothepsyche.OneoftheclassicpoemsaboutwarisHomer’sIliad,which datesbacktoc.800b.c.e.(Englishtranslation,1616)andtracesthecourseoftheTrojan War. WhiletheIliadisanimportantexamplefromtheGreekheroictradition,thereare severalexamplesfromother,evenoldercivilizationsthatspeaktoboththegloriousna- tureofbattleanditsbrutalconsequences.Ancientpoetswroteaboutlegendarywarriors inordertofocusonabraverythatisatthecoreoftheheroicideal.Poetryfromthisan- cientheroicageservedtobolsterpeopleandcivilizationswiththebestqualitiesthatit hadtooffer.Awillingnesstomaketheultimatesacrificeforone’scountryorcausebe- came the desired attribute for which all warriors should strive. Aswarfarechangedoverthecenturies,thisheroicidealbegantoloseitsimpact.Fol- lowingtheinventionofnew,morebarbaricmethodsofslaughter,itbecameharderfor poetstorecountthelegendswiththesamefervor.WhiletheMiddleAgeshaditschiv- alry,thevalorousconductofwarringsideshaddramaticallychangedbytheseventeenth century.Scholarshavearguedthattheinventionofgunpowdernotonlyalteredtheway inwhichwarswerefoughtbutalsomadeitimpossibleforpoetstowriteaboutwarfare with as much enthusiasm, given that the combatants were now being blown apart. Asthenatureofwarfarechanged,sopoets’encounterswiththeconsequencesofbat- tlebecamemoreprominentintheirwork.Bythenineteenthcentury,evenmorehorren- dousweaponrywasavailableforarmiestoexploit.Thetechnologyofwarfareseemed tobeoutpacingmedicaladvancements,resultinginthousandsofwoundedsoldierswho weredoomedtoagonizingdeaths.LordTennysonwrotehisfamous1854poem“The ChargeoftheLightBrigade”inresponsetothetragicchargeofBritishcavalrytoward RussianartilleryduringtheCrimeanWar.Hedepictedtheeventasaheroicactonthe partoftheBritish,whichseemedtobewhattheBritishpublicwantedtobelieve.Tenny- son,though,wasfarremovedfromthefrontlinesofthewar.Whilehisapproachturned arecklessepisodeintoaheroicact,thiswasnothowallpoetsapproachedtothesubject ofwar.ThepoetryofWaltWhitmanandStephenCrane,forexample,bluntlyexposes thegriefandheartachethatcameoutoftheAmericanCivilWar.Bytheturnofthecen- tury, it was obvious that war, skirmishes, border disputes, and other conflicts were taking a heavy toll on the general population. 1 War Poets Critical Survey of Poetry Poetry Responds to a World War DuringWorldWarI,everyable-bodiedmanwasexpectedtoputonauniformand fightforhiscountry.Thesoldier-poetalsowasthrownintothetrenches.Someofthe mostmemorablepoetryaboutrealwarbyrealmeninuniformcamefromtheEnglish poets who fought in that war. Men such as Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg,EdwardThomas,DavidJones,IvorGurney,andSiegfriedSassoonwrote about what they experienced firsthand. Of these seven, only Sassoon, Gurney, and Jonessurvivedthewar.Thepoetrythesemenleftbehindservesasagut-wrenchingre- minderofwhatwartrulyisforthosewhoarecombatants.DuringWorldWarI,soldiers weresubjectedtotrenchwarfareandmustardgas.Forthem,theexperiencewasnotan abstractconcept,orapoliticalexerciseforthegreatergood.Itwasaterrifyingeveryday eventthatthesoldier-poetfoundawaytotransformintopoetry.Intheheartbreaking poem“DulceetDecorumEst,”Owenspeaksofhisexperienceatthefront;theopening stanza paints a grim picture of a soldier’s dire situation: Bent double, like beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. ThetitleofthepoemistakenfromoneofHorace’sOdes(23b.c.e.,13b.c.e.;English translation,1621)andcanbetranslatedas“sweetandfittingitistodieforone’scountry.” Havingpoetsputtheirexperiencesintopoetryhelpedtoeducatethepublicabout warandaddedapowerfulvoicetothepublicdiscourse.Thesepoetsservedasrepresen- tativesofwhatcouldhappentoallsoldiers.TheBritishsoldier-poetswerenottheonly onestoproducehauntingpoetry;theFrenchpoetGuillaumeApollinairediedinthewar, and his collection Calligrammes (English translation, 1980) was published after his deathin1918.Thecollectionincludespoemsthatdealwithhisterribleexperiencesin thewar.ThewarpoemsoftheRussianpoetNikolayGumilyovwerepublishedinhis 1916collectionKolchan,whichtranslatesas“thequiver.”“TheWartoEndAllWars,” asWorldWarIbecameknown,slaughteredsomanyyoungmen,someofwhompro- duced some of the most haunting war poetry ever written. Poetry Continues to Fight the Good Fight Sadly,WorldWarIIwouldengulftheworldbythelate1930’s.Notasmanynotable English-languagewarpoetscameoutofthiswar;manyofthemostimportantpoems aboutthewarwerecomposedbyFrenchpoets,includingLouisAragon,RenéChar,Pi- 2 War Poets War Poets erreSeghers,PaulÉluard,andRobertDesnos.TheAmericanpoetKarlShapirowrote about hisexperiencesserving inthePacificinsuch collectionasPerson, Place,and Thing(1942),ThePlaceofLove(1942),andthePulitzerPrize-winningV-Letterand OtherPoems(1944).SeveralAmericanpoetswhoservedintheVietnamWarduring the1960’s,includingW.D.EhrhartandWaltMcDonald,alsoimmortalizedtheirexpe- riencesinrivetingpoetry.JohnBalabanwenttoVietnamthroughtheInternationalVol- unteer Services as a conscientious objector. He taught in Vietnam but was wounded duringthe1968TetOffensive,andhis1974collectionAftertheWarisaharrowingpor- traitofhowtheexperiencechangedhimforever.ThehighlyacclaimedNigerianwriter ChinuaAchebedealtwiththetragedyoftheNigerianCivilWarbyresponding with highly charged poetry. His 1971 collection Beware: Soul Brother and Other Poems includes poems that confront the failure of Biafra to become an independent nation. Over the centuries, poets have felt obligated to take on all that makes up a war. Whetherthroughfirsthandexperienceorfromadistance,thesepoetshavehadtocome totermswiththeverynatureofmanandhiscapacitytobrutalizehisfellowmanonan ever-increasing scale. Jeffry Jensen Bibliography Chattarji,Subarno.MemoriesofaLostWar:AmericanPoeticResponsestotheVietnam War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. A discussion of how poets re- sponded to an unpopular war. McLoughlin,Kate.AuthoringWar:TheLiteraryRepresentationofWarfromthe“Il- iad”toIraq.Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversityPress,2011.Astudyof how writers have portrayed conflicts throughout the ages. Rodman,Selden.“TheVisionofArmies.”IntroductiontoWarandthePoet:AnAn- thologyofPoetryExpressingMan’sAttitudetoWarfromAncientTimestothePres- ent,editedbyRichardEberhartandSeldenRodman.NewYork:Devin-Adair,1945. An introduction to the purpose of war poetry. Stallworthy,Jon.IntroductiontoTheOxfordBookofWarPoetry.NewYork:Oxford UniversityPress,1984.Discussesthespecialskillapoetmusthaveinordertowrite honestly about something as terrifying as war. Templeton,Alice.“What’stheUse?WritingPoetryinWartime.”CollegeLiterature 34,no.4(Fall,2007):43-63. Considerswhetherpoetrycanretainitsvaluewhile standing up to the reality of war. Silkin, Jon. Introduction to The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. London: Allen Lane, 1979. An introduction to the soldier-poets of World War I. Winn,JamesAnderson.ThePoetryofWar.Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniver- sityPress,2008.Speakstohowthemasterwarpoetsareabletoconfrontthe“terrible beauty” that is war. 3 CHINUA ACHEBE Born:Ogidi, Nigeria; November 16, 1930 Principal poetry Beware, Soul Brother, and Other Poems, 1971, 1972 Christmas in Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973 Collected Poems, 2004 Other literary forms ChinuaAchebe(ah-CHAY-bay)isawriterwhohasmadeimportantcontributionsin everyliterarygenre.Heisknownprimarilyforhisfirstnovel,ThingsFallApart(1959). HisothernovelsincludeNoLongeratEase(1960),ArrowofGod(1964),AManofthe People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe’s short stories are col- lectedinTheSacrificialEgg,andOtherStories(1962)andGirlsatWar,andOtherSto- ries(1972).Hehasalsopublishedcollectionsofessays:MorningYetonCreationDay (1975),AnImageofAfrica(1977),TheTroublewithNigeria(1983),HopesandImped- iments (1988), Home and Exile (2000), and Education of a British-Protected Child (2009).Inadditiontohiscontributionsasapoet,novelist,short-storywriter,andessay- ist,Achehaswrittenbooksforchildren:ChikeandtheRiver(1966),HowtheLeopard GotHisClaws(1972;withJohnIroaganachi),TheFlute(1977),andTheDrum(1977). Hehasalsoeditednumerousworks,includingDon’tLetHimDie:AnAnthologyofMe- morial Poems for Christopher Okigbo, 1937-1967 (1978; with Dubem Okafor). Achievements Chinua Achebe is known as the founder of modern African writing. His many awardsincludetheMargaretWrongMemorialPrize(1959)forThingsFallApart,the Nigerian National Trophy for Literature (1961), the Jock Campbell-New Statesman AwardforLiteratureforArrowofGod(1966),theCommonwealthPoetryPrize(1972, jointwinner),theAfro-AsianWritersAssociation’sLotusAward(1975),theNigerian NationalMeritAward(1979),theTripleEminenceAwardfromtheAssociationofNi- gerianAuthors(1990),theLangstonHughesAward(1993),theCampionMedaland OrderofKilimanjaroAward(both1996),theGermanBooksellersPeacePrize(2002), andtheManBookerInternationalPrize(2007).HewasnamedOfficeroftheOrderof theFederalRepublic(Nigeria)in1979,afellowoftheRoyalSocietyofLiteraturein 1981,anhonoraryforeignfellowoftheAmericanAcademyandInstituteofArtsand Lettersin1982,andanhonoraryfellowoftheAmericanAcademyofArtsandScience in2002.In1998,hewastheMcMillan-StewardLectureratHarvardUniversityandthe Presidential Fellow Lecturer at the World Bank. 4 War Poets Achebe, Chinua Biography AlbertChinualumoguAchebewasbornthefifthofsixchildrenofeducatedIgbo parents,IsaiahOkaforAchebeandJanetAnaenechiAchebe.HewasborninOgidi,a townintheeasternregionofNigeria.AfterconvertingtoChristianity,Achebe’sfather servedasacatechistfortheChurchMissionarySociety.From1944to1948,Achebeat- tendedtheGovernmentCollege,Umuahia,ahighlycompetitiveschool,thenreceived a scholarship to the University College, Ibadan (University of Ibadan). Initially, Achebe’scollegiategoalwastostudymedicine;however,hisgoalschangedbecauseof hisinterestintheacademicareasofreligion,history,andEnglishliterature.Whileatthe UniversityCollege,Achebeandseveralotherstudentsfoundedaliteraryjournal,The UniversityHerald.Inadditiontopublishingworksinthejournal,Achebeservedasthe editor during his third year of matriculation at the institution. After graduation in 1953, Achebe served as a teacher at the Merchant of Light School.HebeganworkingfortheNigerianBroadcastingCorporationin1954,andtwo yearslater,hetrainedattheBritishBroadcastingCorporation.Hepublishedtheinaugu- raltextfortheHeinemannAfricanWritersseries,ThingsFallApart,in1959.Thepubli- cationofthisnovelsignificantlychangedthetrajectoryofAchebe’swritingcareerand hislife.Thenovelhasbeenpublishedinmanylanguagesandhassoldmorethaneight millioncopies.Moreover,ThingsFallApartusheredAchebeintothecenterofthecriti- calconversationonAfricanliteratureandsocial-politicalthought,givinghimacentral place in the canon of world literature. In addition to a prolific writing career, Achebe has had an outstanding academic portfolio.HisvisitingprofessorshipsincludepostsattheUniversityofMassachusettsat Amherst(1972-1975),theUniversityofConnecticut(1975-1976),andCityCollegeof the City University of New York (1989). In 1986, Achebe was appointed pro-vice- chancelloroftheStateUniversityofAnambra inEnugu. Achebe wastheCharlesP. StevensonProfessorofLanguagesandLiteratureatBardCollegein1990-2009.InSep- tember,2009,hebecametheDavidandMariannaFisherUniversityProfessorandpro- fessor of Africana studies at Brown University. InadditiontobeingoneofAfrica’smostinfluentialwriters,Achebeisafamilyman. OnSeptember10,1961,hemarriedChristieChinweOkoli,aprofessorofpsychology. The couple had four children, Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, and Nwando. Analysis ThethematicconcernofChinuaAchebe’slifeandwritingistoarticulatethemean- ingofwhatitistobeAfricanfromtheperspectiveofonewhoisauthenticallyAfrican. CriticNahemYousafhassaidthatAchebe’sintentasawriteristo“challengetheinsidi- ousstoriesinwhichthecolonizedanddispossessedarerenderedinhumanandineptin ordertomakeheroesofthe‘hunter’colonialists,andtoshoreupthememoirsofcolo- nialapologists.”AchebeexpresseshisloveforandcritiqueofAfrica,specificallyNige- 5
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