War Poetry and Critical Writing

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War Poetry and Critical Writing

• Mr. Wilson - English

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Grass by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) Pile the
bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo, Shovel
them under and let me work-- I am the grass I
cover all.   And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel
them under and let me work. Two years, ten
years, and passengers ask the conductor What
place is this? Where are we now?   I am the
grass. Let me work.
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What makes War Poetry

• Quite simple really, most classic war poets
  emerged during the First World War (1914-1918).
• Their style was often more like the Victorians
  then like the Modernists, but because of the War
  their tone started to change dramatically.
• As a result we are going to take a look at a few
  of the greats and discuss their use of tone.

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Christopher Williams (1873-1934)
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Tone?

• What do you look for when discussing a poems
  tone?
• Diction Specific war vocabulary
• Imagery positive or negative?
• Allusion to specific negative events
• Metaphor is there a larger symbol?
• Point of view where is the author trying to put
  YOU?
• Emotion how does all this elicit emotions from
  you?

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Your Assignment

• You should have 4 poems in front of you.
• We will go through each one and then you will
  start working on your critical writing
• Choose your favourite and write a critical essay
  on how the author builds a positive or a negative
  feeling about war using TONE.
• 500 words
• You have 2 choices either organized by the
  literary elements and authors techniques OR you
  can go through the poem line by line.
• Cite your quotes!