With the support of the home front, European countries went to war with each other. In a single day at Great Britain, 33,000 men signed up to join the war against Germany; nationalism was strong among the fighting countries . Unfortunately, even with the high influx of soldiers joining, death would permeate the battle fields forever, making this “‘jolly little war’” a trudging four year world war . As the war continued to take the hundreds of lives each day, the fervor support of nationalism and war dwindled due to the devastating consequences. One of the main reasons why millions of soldiers died, was the introduction of a new tactic: trench warfare. With industrialization, weaponry improved and created stronger weapons such as machine guns,
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Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were both soldier as they wrote their poems during the latter half of the war. Written between 1916 and 1918, Sassoon wrote They, to contrast the civilians’ nationalism with the realities of the war. While the Bishop in the poem believe “[the soldiers] will not be the same; for they’ll have fought / in a just cause…” the soldiers turn that statement of nationalism into a statement of horror as they describe the deaths of their fellow comrades . In the Counter-Attack, also written by Siegfried Sassoon, shown the reality of war. He describes a typical day of a soldier. From the trenches “rotten from the dead” to the “clamour of shells”, when the counterattack is called, the soldier in the poem dies . There was chaos and yet the soldier was still asked to fight in a pointless counterattack. Just like Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, a British soldier, despised the war. In the poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est, he criticized nationalism and support for the war because it supported the unethical conditions and deaths. He called the common phrase of French nationalism, “the Old Lie”. He questions the honor of fighting and dying for your country and one must witness a comrade’s death. All of these poems were written towards the end of WWI and they graphically describe the pain and horror the soldiers went through for nationalism and war. Through the soldiers’ literature, they asked their audience if nationalism was worth the pain and suffering they had to endure
Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were both soldier as they wrote their poems during the latter half of the war. Written between 1916 and 1918, Sassoon wrote They, to contrast the civilians’ nationalism with the realities of the war. While the Bishop in the poem believe “[the soldiers] will not be the same; for they’ll have fought / in a just cause…” the soldiers turn that statement of nationalism into a statement of horror as they describe the deaths of their fellow comrades . In the Counter-Attack, also written by Siegfried Sassoon, shown the reality of war. He describes a typical day of a soldier. From the trenches “rotten from the dead” to the “clamour of shells”, when the counterattack is called, the soldier in the poem dies . There was chaos and yet the soldier was still asked to fight in a pointless counterattack. Just like Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, a British soldier, despised the war. In the poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est, he criticized nationalism and support for the war because it supported the unethical conditions and deaths. He called the common phrase of French nationalism, “the Old Lie”. He questions the honor of fighting and dying for your country and one must witness a comrade’s death. All of these poems were written towards the end of WWI and they graphically describe the pain and horror the soldiers went through for nationalism and war. Through the soldiers’ literature, they asked their audience if nationalism was worth the pain and suffering they had to endure