7. World War I Poetry in England

Modern Poetry (ENGL 310) with Langdon Hammer

A representative sample of English poetry of World War One is surveyed. War rhetoric and propaganda are examined and challenged in Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Strange Meeting." The relationship between home front and battle front is explored in Thomas Hardy's "Channel Firing," "In the Time of 'the Breaking of Nations,'" and "I Looked up From My Writing"; Edward Thomas's "Adlestrop"; and Siegfried Sassoon's "'Blighters.'" Isaac Rosenberg's "Louse Hunting" is discussed as a poem of ordinary experience in the trenches.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Wilfred Owen Poem: "Dulce et Decorum Est"
15:39 - Chapter 2. Thomas Hardy Poem: "Channel Firing"
23:44 - Chapter 3. Thomas Hardy Poem: "In the Time of 'the Breaking of Nations"
26:24 - Chapter 4. Thomas Hardy Poem: "I Looked Up From My Writing"
29:10 - Chapter 5. Edward Thomas Poem: "Adlestrop"
38:21 - Chapter 6. Siegfried Sassoon Poem: "Blighters'"
41:09 - Chapter 7. Isaac Rosenberg Poem: "Louse Hunting"
48:10 - Chapter 8. Wilfred Owen Poem: "Strange Meeting"

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.