How Does War Affect Literature

History is written by the victors. This stands as an interesting thought admitted by most; one with unknown origins, commonly misattributed to major historical figures such as Winston Churchill. But this is inherently wrong, especially in the field of literature. The thought itself is an account accusing the idea of the spoils of war going to the victor. The concept also takes on a form assuming war is only a destructive phenomenon for one side, leaving nothing to the defeated. However, the earth bears no conflict more brutal than that of war – win or lose. The explanation and description of war does not fall solely on the shoulders of the victor but also of the spectators, veterans, and deceased. While some say war has nothing to do with literature, the truth is war causes incalculable effects on the culture and thus the literature. …show more content…
Not coincidentally, most major periods in literature begin and end around times of war. Looking at America especially, the Civil War heeds the end of Transcendentalism and begins the period of Realism. Additionally, the Modernism movement widens with the advent of both world wars. Transcendentalism, a period tending towards philosophical reaction and protest to the general state of society with the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, was transformed by the impact of the Civil War. Clark S. Northup insists, “we are entitled to draw some consolation, if we can, from the belief that as suffering deepens and enriches life, so it may purify and ennoble literature, which is the expression, the mirror of life” (Northup 342). In essence, with literature being a reflection on a society, not to have major literary movements affected by an event such as war would would be nearly impossible. A great example of the Civil War leading to poetry in the realm of Realism is from Walt Whitman’s “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and