The Nation's Cause: French, English and German Poetry of the First World WarAs we approach the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, this timely reissue, first published in 1991, evaluates the function of poetry in wartime Europe, arguing that war poetry must be understood as a social as well as a literary phenomenon. As well as locating the work of well-known French, English and German war poets in a European context, Elizabeth Marsland discusses lesser-known poetry of the war years, including poems by women and the neglected tradition of civilian protest through poetry. Identifying shared characteristics as well as the unique features of each nation’s poetry, The Nation’s Cause affords new insight into the relationship between nationalism and the social attitudes that determined the conduct of war. |
From inside the book
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... modern readers. The Nation's Cause was, and remains, an unusual study not only because of its broad and international scope but also in its central concern with how the poetry functioned as communication. These two factors led to an ...
... modern age to distinguish war poems from any other kind, 'since peace has become a sequence of limited wars, either political or military', the Great War poetry is so thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of its period, so totally ...
... modern genres. Yet this perception is not verified by literary history, for many well-known writers in the past have used their verse to comment on contemporary affairs — Bertran de Born and Walther von der Vogelweide in the Middle Ages ...
... modern reader might be forgiven for assuming that the phrase 'You have lost your spurs!' conveys a piece of helpful (though possibly unusual) information; the poet's contemporaries undoubtedly recognised it as an accusation of dishonour ...
... modern, for this picture of a bloody hillside in the relentless sun calls to mind a representation of a battle in the American West — Custer's troops at the Little Big Horn, perhaps — rather than the more usual image of the First World ...
Contents
1 | |
nationalism and national image | 33 |
the promoting of mass heroism | 70 |
the war against words | 104 |
protest against the heroic ethic | 133 |
readers nonreaders and protest | 156 |
nonpropagandist poetry of 191
combatants | 191 |
poems and history | 219 |
Notes | 241 |
261 | |
272 | |
277 | |
Other editions - View all
The Nation's Cause: French, English, and German Poetry of the First World War Elizabeth A. Marsland No preview available - 1991 |
The Nation's Cause: French, English, and German Poetry of the First World War Elizabeth A. Marsland No preview available - 1991 |