Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
History
Date of Award
8-2008
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
William Douglas Burgess Jr., Stephen G. Fritz, Dale J. Schmitt
Abstract
During the Great War, poetry played a more significant role in the war effort than articles and pamphlets. A campaign of extraordinary language filled with abstract and spiritualized words and phrases concealed the realities of the War. Archaic language and lofty phrases hid the horrible truth of modern mechanical warfare. The majority and most recognized and admired poets, including those who served on the front and knew firsthand the horrors of trench warfare, not only supported the war effort, but also encouraged its continuation. For the majority of the poets, the rejection of the war was a postwar phenomenon. From the trenches, leading Great War poets; Owen, Sassoon, Graves, Sitwell, and others, learned that the War was neither Agincourt, nor the playing fields of ancient public schools, nor the supreme test of valor but, instead, the modern industrial world in miniature, surely, the modern world at its most horrifying.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Leadingham, Norma Compton, "Propaganda and Poetry during the Great War." (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1966. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1966
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.