POETRY and PROPAGANDA of the GREAT WAR Diplomarbeit
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POETRY AND PROPAGANDA OF THE GREAT WAR Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Magisters der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Gernot Alfred Wolfmayr Am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter Ao. Univ. -Prof. Mag. Dr. phil Martin Löschnigg Graz, 2018 Statutory Declaration I hereby declare that the following diploma thesis is, to my best knowledge and belief, original and the result of my own investigation. All the ideas taken from other, external sources are clearly acknowledged in the text. _______________________________ Graz, 11.05.2018 (Gernot Wolfmayr) 1 | P a g e Acknowledgement First of all, I’d like to thank Ao. Univ. -Prof. Mag. Dr. phil. Martin Löschnigg, who introduced me to the poetry of the First World War and instilled in me a passion for the tragic beauty of its poems. I’d also like to thank him for his patience in guiding me through the process of writing my diploma thesis and helping me find a clear and sensible structure. Thank you for your support and I do hope that the end result is to your liking. Secondly, I’d like to thank my brother, Albert Wolfmayr, and my sister, Waltraud Wolfmayr, who supported me in the process of writing my diploma thesis and aided me with their advice, answering any and all of the issues I was uncertain about. I’d also like to thank Ao. Univ. -Prof. Mag. Dr. phil. Klaus Rieser, who inspired me to focus my diploma thesis on the deceptive nature of propaganda and how humans tend to fall for what they wish to be true. Without his influence, my diploma thesis may as well have been about the more simple beauty of the poetry during the Romantic Period, overlooking the beauty of the poetry that stems from the tragedy that is the First World War. Most of all, I’d like to thank my life partner, Melanie Fuchs, for her emotional support and her help in writing my diploma thesis. Not only did she keep supporting me through the considerable amount of time I took to write my diploma thesis, but she also proof-read the entirety of the text, advising me on grammatical as well as referential mistakes. Thank you so much for being by my side during this time. Last but not least, I’d like to thank all those that had shown and will show an interest in the subject of the Great War. I do believe that its poetry holds many lessons for humanity and the hope that my diploma thesis will help relay some of those lessons, helped me through the process of writing. So, thank you to all those that helped me feel that my work matters. 2 | P a g e Happy little Soldier Boy, Thought that dying would be such a joy. Surely, you must be glad, Now that you are dead. And for such a worthy cause, Enough, to give life a pause. Now, your fight is won, But the war, goes on. 3 | P a g e Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 2. The Main Themes of Poetry and Propaganda ........................................................................... 7 2.1. Theme: A Cleansing War............................................................................................................. 7 2.2. Theme: Honour and Glory ........................................................................................................ 14 2.3. Theme: Defend and Protect ..................................................................................................... 21 2.4. Theme: (Fight against) Evil ....................................................................................................... 26 2.5. Theme: God ............................................................................................................................... 31 2.6. Theme: Sacrifice ........................................................................................................................ 35 2.7. Theme: Duty (and Social Pressure) .......................................................................................... 42 2.8. Theme: Fight to a Finish ........................................................................................................... 49 3. Direct Poetic Discourse ............................................................................................................. 55 4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 69 5. Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 71 4 | P a g e 1. Introduction The First World War has been the cause of many records, some appalling, some impressive. While the horrendous number of casualties, caused by an astonishing quantity of artillery shells fired, and a shocking disregard for human life, is one of the things most remember the First World War for, other less troubling topics are worth discussing as well. Actually, while it is indisputable that the loss of life caused through World War One must not be forgotten, other topics hold important lessons as well. For example, the subject of propaganda. Propaganda as a means to control the entire population of a country and beyond even that, was arguably born through the First World War (cf. Conrad et. al. 2014: 25). Otto von Bismarck said that one does not shoot at the enemy with public opinion, but with powder and lead. However, with the beginning of the 20th century this claim was only true in its most literal sense (cf. Conrad et. al. 2014: 40). The truth of the matter was quite the contrary, since the propaganda effort was one of the most significant war efforts of England (cf. Buitenhuis 1987: 12). Considering that the United States of America were neutral in the conflict and declared war against Germany in April of 1917, it can be considered a successful one as well. The man mostly responsible for the British propaganda effort was C.F.G. Masterman. He was appointed head of the War Propaganda Bureau in late August 1914 and worked under the cover of Wellington House, since his efforts were highly secret. His first instinct, being a writer himself, was to turn to his colleagues, the writers of England, for help. Thus, on the afternoon of the 2nd of September in 1914, numerous great names of the British literary world gathered in Wellington House in complete secrecy (cf. Buitenhuis 1987: 13- 14): -men like William Archer, Sir James M. Barrie, Arnold Chesterton, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, Anthony Hope Hawkins, Maurice Hewlett, W. J. Locke, E.V. Lucas, J.W. Mackail, John Masefield, A.E.W. Mason, Gilbert Murray, Sir Henry Newbolt, Sir Gilbert Parker, Sir Owen Seaman, George Trevelyan, H.G. Wells, Israel Zangwill and assorted government officials (cf. Buitenhuis 1987: 14). While not all of those men agreed to write propaganda for Masterman and thus aid the war effort, most did. Additionally, the number of writers who supported the British propaganda effort increased further, with a total of fifty-four authors signing the Authors’ Manifesto, a declaration of 5 | P a g e British authors for the British decision to go to war. This manifesto was printed in the New York Times on 18th of September in 1914, in an effort to convince the United States of America of the righteous nature of the British cause (cf. Buitenhuis 1987: 18). Naturally, a great number of authors wrote propaganda to aid the war effort out of their own accord as well. Masterman’s focus on literature as an instrument of propaganda was partially the cause for another record set during the First World War. Never before and never again was such a vast number of poems focused on a single subject, in this case the Great War, produced in such a short time. Countless amateur and other professional writers joined in the war euphoria and expressed their enthusiasm about the war in a lyrical fashion. However, there was also an anti-war response, and the ensuing clash of opinions is a truly captivating topic of the subject of propaganda during the Great War. Thus, analysing the propaganda poetry of the First World War and explaining how and why propaganda and poetry was produced in such a way is an undertaking well worth its time. To do this in a lucid fashion, the poetry will be separated in themes, namely the themes that were most frequently applied. While the number of poems is too vast to truly analyse and compare them all, the separation into the most common themes aims to provide an empiric account of the poetry of the Great War. Each theme will consist of a pro-war poem, representative of pro-war poetry, and the anti-war response. By this comparison, an understanding of the culture and mind-setting during those troubled times will be provided, as well as an appreciation of the art form that is poetry, and of the poets themselves. 6 | P a g e 2. The Main Themes of Poetry and Propaganda 2.1. Theme: A Cleansing War One of the major themes of pro-war poetry during the First World War was the idea of a war that acts as a cleansing fire. To understand this idea, one must understand the socio-political situation of Great Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century. While Great Britain was still on the very top of the world economically, even so after the financial crisis in 1907, the stability of English life was still shaken by social issues, more precisely by three sources of violence (cf. Bergonzi 1980: 21). First of all, there was the Suffragette movement, which started out peacefully in 1897 when