Essay On Peguy's Attitude Towards The Great War

The attitudes toward The Great War, otherwise known as World War I, changed greatly between the years of 1914 and 1919. Although at first the war was expected to be finished quickly, events turned the course of the war and it lasted approximately four years. The countries who experienced the impact of The Great War felt the effects as the war continued far longer than anticipated. Consequences of the war were far-reaching, affecting every part of the countries – from the government and economy to the family structure within the societies. Peguy wrote “Blessed Are” when The Great War was still in its beginning, in 1914. In Peguy’s poem we see the soldier and his cause exalted. Whether war was needed for national expansion and gain or to protect man’s home and family, it was noble. Death as a result of war was seen as honorable. The mention of God in the poem and the reference of men returning to the earth evoked the idea that God was pleased with the justified fighting, and the dead had returned to their original form (clay and earth). Fighting and death were seen as a part of the cycle of life. This attitude toward The Great War typified the idea of fighting to maintain one’s honor, …show more content…
It, too, brings to light the reality of death in The Great War, but emphasis is placed on the leadership of the army. The General was cheerful and spoke to the soldiers as if certain death did not await them at the front line. Sassoon conveyed that most of the soldiers the General spoke happily to in the previous week were now dead. The soldiers who have survived thus far are discouraged and angry at the plans of the leadership, which are inefficient. This sentiment of this poem seems appropriate as we study The Great War in 1917, because it was about this time when the first mutinies took place. Instead of the traditional view that soldiers were to defend, protect, and earn honor, they were seeing the fight as