DOCSLIB.ORG

“Nobody Asked What the Women Thought”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Nobody Asked What the Women Thought” “Nobody asked what the women thought”: An Analysis of the Relationship between Women and War in British Women’s Poetry of the First World War (1914-1918) Iris Cuijpers Academic year: 2018-2019 MA Thesis European Literature Supervisor: Dr. Marguérite Corporaal 20 June 2019 Cuijpers 1 Summary This thesis investigates an aspect of British First World War poetry which has not yet received much scholarly attention, namely the poems written by women about this conflict. Male soldiers like Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke and Isaac Rosenberg have all become important names in anthologies of World War I poetry, but female poets are still missing in these poetry collections and the research that has been written about them. Since the 1980s, some studies have focused on women’s poetry of the First World War but there are still many topics left unexplored. One of these subjects is the way in which the relationship between women and war is represented in women’s Great War poetry. This thesis takes a closer look at this connection by analysing three topics which are related to gender and war, and which represent a traditional idea on women’s relationship to war. These topics are: the spatial opposition between the male battlefield and the female home front, women’s work and role during wartime, the role of the mother figure in war. Each one of these topics is analysed in women’s war poetry and the goal of these analyses is to improve our understanding of the relationship in women’s Great War poetry between gender, on the one hand, and nature, nationalism, war, and literature, on the other hand. The main research question in this thesis is whether women's poems confirm or challenge traditional ideas on women and war. This question is explored by using theories on gender and war (Goldstein 2001), gender and space (Spain 1992; Massey 1994), ecofeminism (Ruether 1995), liberal feminism, difference feminism and postmodern feminism. The historical context of the First World War, especially the female wartime experience, also forms an important part of this thesis. As its primary material, this thesis mainly uses Catherine Reilly’s anthology Scars Upon My Heart: Women’s Poetry and Verse of the First World War (1981), as well as individual poetry collections by female poets such as Vera Brittain, Jessie Pope, and Margaret Sackville. Occasionally, this thesis also analyses poems written by male soldiers in order to demonstrate that there are sometimes clear differences between men and women’s war poems. This thesis argues that because of the enormous diversity of women’s poetry of the First World War, both positive and negative responses to traditional ideas on women and war can be found. Whereas on the one hand, there are poems which are nationalistic in tone, which construct the home front as an ideal place representing female beauty, kindness and safety, or which describe the mother figure as the ultimate symbol of maternal protection and love, on the other hand, there are poems which challenge conventional ideas on women’s role in wartime. These poems, for instance, contest the idea that only men are allowed to fight or they defy women’s role as supporter of war by containing pacifist ideas in which the war is criticized. Cuijpers 2 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Marguérite Corporaal for her excellent guidance and support while writing this thesis. During our meetings, she always provided me with useful feedback, interesting theoretical approaches and new suggestions to explore. Our feedback sessions were an important source of support for me in the process of writing this thesis, not only because it helped me finding my focus and improving my writing style, but especially because Dr. Corporaal showed a great curiosity and interest in my research project, and this really encouraged me to continue with my research. Secondly, I would also like to thank my professors at Ghent University for introducing me to the topic of British literature of the First World War. It was during a lecture on Vera Brittain’s beautifully written autobiography Testament of Youth (1933), in the fall of 2017, when the idea for this thesis was born. Of course, I would also like to thank my friends, family, and housemates for their support while writing this thesis, and for always providing me with welcome distractions. Especially my classmates Karlijn and Madelon were an important source of support for me the past half year. Writing this thesis was both a rewarding but sometimes also difficult process, but thanks to their feedback, encouragement and friendship, I never felt like I was going through it on my own. Lastly, I would like to give a special thanks to my parents, not only for supporting me throughout my academic education, but mostly for taking me to bookshops and libraries even since I was young, and for always encouraging me to read. It was my father’s interest in British culture and history and my mother’s love for books, especially those written by women about strong female characters, which made me decide to study English literature, and which also indirectly inspired me to write this thesis. Cuijpers 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5 2. Theory on gender and war: the First World War as a gendered conflict .................................... 15 2.1. The universality of gendered war roles ...................................................................................... 15 2.2. Reasons behind the separation of male and female wartime roles .......................................... 17 2.3. Wartime roles for men and women ........................................................................................... 19 2.4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 27 3. Male and female spaces: the home front versus the battlefield ............................................... 28 3.1. Theory on gender and space ...................................................................................................... 29 3.2. The female home front versus the male battlefield .................................................................. 30 3.2.1. The safe and beautiful home front versus the dangerous and tough battlefield ............... 30 3.2.2. Ecofeminist theory .............................................................................................................. 33 3.2.3. The growth of nature on the home front versus natural destruction on the battlefield ... 35 3.3. The relationship between the two fronts .................................................................................. 39 3.3.1. Crossing the border between the home front and the battle zone .................................... 39 3.3.1.1. Men in female spaces ................................................................................................... 39 3.3.1.1. Women in male spaces ................................................................................................. 40 3.3.2. The border between the two fronts .................................................................................... 42 3.3.2.1. The line between safety and danger: feeling locked up or protected? ........................ 42 3.3.2.1. The imaginary wall as a symbol of the lack of understanding between both worlds .. 44 4. Women’s role in the First World War ...................................................................................... 50 4.1. Supporting the war by means of women’s labour ..................................................................... 50 4.1.1. Women workers in male roles ............................................................................................ 52 4.1.1.1. Historical context .......................................................................................................... 52 Cuijpers 4 4.1.1.2. Analysis of the poems ................................................................................................... 55 4.1.2. Women workers in female roles ......................................................................................... 60 4.1.3. Contesting women’s wartime work .................................................................................... 64 4.2. Supporting the cause of the war ................................................................................................ 68 4.2.1. Women’s patriotic and optimistic poetry ........................................................................... 68 4.2.2. Women’s critical anti-war poetry ........................................................................................ 73 Chapter 5: The Mother Figure ..................................................................................................... 81 5.1. The mother figure in war poetry: Mother England .................................................................... 82 5.2. The mother in soldiers’ poetry: positive versus negative .......................................................... 84 5.3. The ideal and caring mother in women’s poetry ....................................................................... 86 5.4. The pain and grief of war mothers in women’s poetry .............................................................. 87 5.5. Humanizing soldiers through the use of the mother figure
Load more

Recommended publications
  • War Poets Anthology
    ,The War Poets An Anthology if the War Poetry -of the 20th Century . Edited with :an Introduction by Oscar Williams \\ . [, l , The]ohn Day Company • New York Virginia Commonwealth Univers~ty library :,\ " . P/1" I::}J$ Contents COPYRIGHT, 1945, BY OSCAR WILLIAMS W5~" , Introduction 3 All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. ,,Comments by the Poets. 12 Poems must not be reprinted without permission E. E. Cummings, 12; Geoffrey Grigson, 13; John Mani­ from the poets, their publishers or theiro agents. fold, 14; Donald Stau!fer, 15; Vernon Watkins, 16; Mark Van Doren, 17; Julian Symons, 17; Richard Eberhart, 18; Henry Treece, 20; Frederic Prokosch, ,21; Selden Rod­ Second Impression man, 22; Wallace Stevens, 23; Alan Ross, 24; Muriel Rukeyser, '25; Edwin Muir, 26; Karl Shapiro, 26; Hubert Creekmore, 27; Gavin Ewart, 28; John Pudney, 29; John Be"yman,29. , , , ' ;,THOMAS HARDY S POEM ON THE TURN OF THE . I CENTURY: The Darkling Thrush 31 ,'1 THE POETRY OF WORLD WAR I The Pity of It,' by THOMAs HARDY 33 WILFRED OWEN , Greater Love, 35; Arms and the Boy, 35; Inspection, 36; Anthem for Doomed Youth, 36; Dulce Et Decorum Est 37; Exposure, 38; Disabled,. 39; The Show, 40; Memai Cases, 41; Insensibility, 42; A Terre, 44; Strange Meeting 46. ' RUPERT BROOKE The Soldier; 48; The Great Lover, 48. E. E. CUMMINGS I Sing of Olaf, 51; my sweet old etcetera, 52. ROBERT GRAVES Recalling War, 54; Defeat of the Rebels, 55. HERBERT READ The End of a War, 56.
    [Show full text]
  • Curo Housing Estate a Scene of “Deprivation” Keynsham Town Councillor Dave Biddleston Says Pre-War Poverty”
    THE WEEK IN East Bristol & North East Somerset FREE Issue 544 26th September 2018 Read by over 40,000 people each week Curo housing estate a scene of “deprivation” Keynsham town councillor Dave Biddleston says pre-war poverty”. vandalism and ant-social behaviour. residents are living in “deprivation” at Curo homes in Last week, a deputation from the 40-plus homes A Facebook page set up by residents shows images of Tintagel Close, claiming “basic sanitary living has been attended the town council meeting to describe some of bare electrical wiring exposed to the elements and other so compromised it's as if Keynsham has moved back to the problems they face as a result of poor maintenance, scenes of neglect. Recently The Week In reported on an arson attack when waste bins were deliberately set alight and although nobody was hurt, considerable damage was caused to neighbouring properties, with the heat even melting drainpipes and guttering. At the time residents reported that the lock on the bin store door had been vandalised and not repaired. Responding to a report by BBC Bristol, Curo claimed that the CCTV system at Tintagel Close had been vandalised beyond repair. This brought an angry reaction from residents who claimed the security cameras have never worked. Continued on page 3 Tintagel Close Concerns at Warmley Funding boost for Problems persist at MP changes position Also in this Community Centre . Keynsham one-way Mangotsfield tip on Brexit week’s issue . page 5 . page 6 . page 12 . page 7 2 The Week in • Wednesday 26th September 2018 Curo housing estate a Public meeting to scene of “deprivation” discuss traffic concerns Continued from page 1 homes at Tintagel Close.
    [Show full text]
  • The History/Literature Problem in First World War Studies Nicholas Milne-Walasek Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate
    The History/Literature Problem in First World War Studies Nicholas Milne-Walasek Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctoral degree in English Literature Department of English Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Nicholas Milne-Walasek, Ottawa, Canada, 2016 ii ABSTRACT In a cultural context, the First World War has come to occupy an unusual existential point half- way between history and art. Modris Eksteins has described it as being “more a matter of art than of history;” Samuel Hynes calls it “a gap in history;” Paul Fussell has exclaimed “Oh what a literary war!” and placed it outside of the bounds of conventional history. The primary artistic mode through which the war continues to be encountered and remembered is that of literature—and yet the war is also a fact of history, an event, a happening. Because of this complex and often confounding mixture of history and literature, the joint roles of historiography and literary scholarship in understanding both the war and the literature it occasioned demand to be acknowledged. Novels, poems, and memoirs may be understood as engagements with and accounts of history as much as they may be understood as literary artifacts; the war and its culture have in turn generated an idiosyncratic poetics. It has conventionally been argued that the dawn of the war's modern literary scholarship and historiography can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s—a period which the cultural historian Jay Winter has described as the “Vietnam Generation” of scholarship.
    [Show full text]
  • Artymiuk, Anne
    UHI Thesis - pdf download summary Today's No Ground to Stand Upon A Study of the Life and Poetry of George Campbell Hay Artymiuk, Anne DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (AWARDED BY OU/ABERDEEN) Award date: 2019 Awarding institution: The University of Edinburgh Link URL to thesis in UHI Research Database General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author. Users may download and print one copy of any thesis from the UHI Research Database for the not-for-profit purpose of private study or research on the condition that: 1) The full text is not changed in any way 2) If citing, a bibliographic link is made to the metadata record on the the UHI Research Database 3) You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain 4) You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the UHI Research Database Take down policy If you believe that any data within this document represents a breach of copyright, confidence or data protection please contact us at [email protected] providing details; we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 ‘Today’s No Ground to Stand Upon’: a Study of the Life and Poetry of George Campbell Hay Anne Artymiuk M.A.
    [Show full text]
  • SIBL. . V^'- ' / Proquest Number: 10096794
    -TÂ/igSEOBSIAW p o e t s : A. CBIIXCÆJEaaMIBA!ElûIif--CÆJ^ POETRY '' ARD POETIC THEORY. “ KATHARIKE COOKE. M. P h i l . , SIBL. v^'- ' / ProQuest Number: 10096794 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10096794 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 SYNOPSIS. As the Introduction explains this thesis sets out to look at the Georgians* achievement in poetry in the light of their intentions as avowed in prose and their methods as exemplified hy their poems. This is chiefly a critical exercise hut history has heen used to clear away the inevitable distortion which results from looking at Georgian poetry after fifty years of Eliot- influenced hostility. The history of the movement is dealt with in Chapter 2. The next three chapters examine aspects of poetry which the Georgians themselves con­ sidered most interesting. Chapter 3 deals with form, Chapter 4 with diction and Chapter 5 with inspiration or attitude to subject matter. Chapter 6 looks at the aspect of Georgianism most commonly thought by later readers to define the movement, th a t is i t s subjects.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bard of the Black Chair: Ellis Evans and Memorializing the Great War in Wales
    Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2018 The Bard of the Black Chair: Ellis Evans and Memorializing the Great War in Wales McKinley Terry Abilene Christian University Texas Psi Chapter Vol. 3(1), 2018 Article Title: The Bard of the Black Chair: Ellis Evans and Memorializing the Great War in Wales DOI: 10.21081/AX0173 ISSN: 2381-800X Key Words: Wales, poets, 20th Century, World War I, memorials, bards This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Author contact information is available from the Editor at [email protected]. Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship • This publication is an online, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary undergraduate journal, whose mission is to promote high quality research and scholarship among undergraduates by showcasing exemplary work. • Submissions can be in any basic or applied field of study, including the physical and life sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, education, engineering, and the arts. • Publication in Aletheia will recognize students who excel academically and foster mentor/mentee relationships between faculty and students. • In keeping with the strong tradition of student involvement in all levels of Alpha Chi, the journal will also provide a forum for students to become actively involved in the writing, peer review, and publication process. • More information and instructions for authors is available under the publications tab at www.AlphaChiHonor.org. Questions to the editor may be directed to [email protected]. Alpha Chi is a national college honor society that admits students from all academic disciplines, with membership limited to the top 10 percent of an institution’s juniors, seniors, and graduate students.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovering Rupert Brooke Grantchester Dymock
    Just after their 21st wedding anniversary, for the first time since Christmas, David Maxwell Fyfe managed to get back to London to be with his wife and their family for a weekend over Easter. It was an extremely welcome reunion, as it was two months since they had been together, when Sylvia visited him in Nuremberg, and the time spent apart was growing more difficult for them both as there was still no clear end in sight for the trial. David Maxwell Fyfe 11th April 1946 Keitel is finished and Kaltenbrunner has ‘taken the stand’ I have nothing to do with him and am hoping violently that the Americans will do a good job. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was the highest-ranking member of the SS to face trial at Nuremberg. As Chief of the Main Security Office from 1943 - 45 he answered to Heinrich Himmler, overseeing a period in which persecution of Jews intensified. He is considered a major perpetrator of the Holocaust during the final years of the war. David Maxwell Fyfe 11th April 1946 I cannot realise that I am going to get home a week from today. It will be absolutely marvellous. Sylvia Maxwell Fyfe 14th April 1946 If it is any pleasure to you to know this is the first year out of 21 that I have not enjoyed. It ought to make you rather conceited if that were possible. Anyway I shall adore my Easter - and all things come to an end - even Nuremberg trials I suppose though I confess I sometimes doubt it. There was very little let up from the relentless strain of the trial, now in its’ sixth month, or genuine relaxation in the company of his equally tired work colleagues.
    [Show full text]
  • The Poetry of Siegfried Sassoon
    Durham E-Theses The poetry of siegfried sassoon Cumming, Deryck How to cite: Cumming, Deryck (1969) The poetry of siegfried sassoon, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10240/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE POEPRY OF SIEGPEIIED SASSOON Deryck Gtumning M.A. thesis University of Durham The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be. acknowledged. page Early Poems 1 II War Poems, 1915-1917 20 III Counter-Attack 64 IV Picture Show 102 V Poems of the Twenties 115 VI Poems of the Thirties 135 VII Poems of the Fifties I53 VIII Conclusion 167 Bibliography _Ch_cvpt_Gr_ On^ EAHLY POEflS Siegfried. S-J5soon "born in I8865 the cccond of thrrr sons of Alfred Ezrr, Sr.ssoon r,nd Thcrcsr.
    [Show full text]
  • Modem Women's Poetry 1910—1929
    Modem Women’s Poetry 1910—1929 Jane Dowson Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester. 1998 UMI Number: U117004 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U117004 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Modern Women9s Poetry 1910-1929 Jane Dowson Abstract In tracing the publications and publishing initiatives of early twentieth-century women poets in Britain, this thesis reviews their work in the context of a male-dominated literary environment and the cultural shifts relating to the First World War, women’s suffrage and the growth of popular culture. The first two chapters outline a climate of new rights and opportunities in which women became public poets for the first time. They ran printing presses and bookshops, edited magazines and wrote criticism. They aimed to align themselves with a male tradition which excluded them and insisted upon their difference. Defining themselves antithetically to the mythologised poetess of the nineteenth century and popular verse, they developed strategies for disguising their gender through indeterminate speakers, fictional dramatisations or anti-realist subversions.
    [Show full text]
  • War Poetry: Impacts on British Understanding of World War One
    Central Washington University ScholarWorks@CWU All Undergraduate Projects Undergraduate Student Projects Spring 2019 War Poetry: Impacts on British Understanding of World War One Holly Fleshman Central Washington University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/undergradproj Part of the European History Commons, Military History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Fleshman, Holly, "War Poetry: Impacts on British Understanding of World War One" (2019). All Undergraduate Projects. 104. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/undergradproj/104 This Undergraduate Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Student Projects at ScholarWorks@CWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Undergraduate Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@CWU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………….. 2 Body………..………………………………………………………………….. 3 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………. 20 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….. 24 End Notes ……………………………………………………………………... 28 1 Abstract The military and technological innovations deployed during World War I ushered in a new phase of modern warfare. Newly developed technologies and weapons created an environment which no one had seen before, and as a result, an entire generation of soldiers and their families had to learn to cope with new conditions of shell shock. For many of those affected, poetry offered an outlet to express their thoughts, feelings and experiences. For Great Britain, the work of Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves have been highly recognized, both at the time and in the present. Newspaper articles and reviews published by prominent companies of the time make it clear that each of these poets, who expressed strong opinions and feelings toward the war, deeply influenced public opinion.
    [Show full text]
  • In Search of God: the Lost Horizon in Rupert Brooke's Poetry
    In Search of God: The Lost Horizon in Rupert Brooke’s Poetry Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa Al-Laithy (Ph.D.) Assistant Professor of English Al-Imam Muhammad Bin Sad Islamic University Riyadh Saudi Arabia I The British poet Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) is one of the poets who should be reread and reassessed. Brooke‟s reputation as a poet has been very much apt to doubt and controversies by admirers and detractors alike. Unlike many other poets, Brooke prospered greatly as a poet when he was only twenty. At his time, he was a “poetic…model” (Willdhardt, 49). Unlike the majority of poets, again, shortly after his death at the age of twenty eight, his reputation declined drastically and his poetry was vehemently criticised, attacked and undervalued. This makes of Brooke a unique phenomenon worthy of rereading and reassessment. Indeed, what happened with Brooke as a poet is exactly the opposite of what usually happens with poets during their lifetimes and after their deaths. One can just think of such poets as John Keats (1795-1821)and Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) and Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) who were severely attacked during their lifetimes, but were explored and championed after their deaths. Ever since the 1920s and the 1930s of the past century, Brooke‟s name as a poet has been diminishing, and almost vanishing, indeed. There seems to have been a general consent among writers and critics of one generation after another either to mention the poet askance, undervalue his poetic contribution, or else to ignore him totally. To give one example, The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, one of the most prestigious, referential anthologies in English, mentions nothing at all about Brooke or his poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the First World War
    Understanding the First World War: Political Dissent, Social Criticism and Patriotism in the Poetry of Soldier Poets, Female Poets and Civilian Poets. Victoria Cowan s3015599 Master Thesis EL Radboud University Nijmegen Faculty of Arts Supervisor: Usha Wilbers 15 September 2015 Abstract In this thesis an analysis was made of a selection of poetry by three diverse groups of war poets; soldier poets, female poets and civilian poets. By close reading of the primary sources, and selective use of secondary sources, an attempt was made to answer the main research question: In which ways are the themes of political dissent, social criticism and patriotism represented in the work of soldier poets, female poets and civilian poets? The first chapter dealt with the social and cultural context surrounding the war, and briefly highlighted the various reasons for war before going into greater detail on the reasons why this war, unlike any before or after, became so inextricably linked with literature. Although there was indisputable answer to this question, some possible answers included; the increased literacy rates, the unprecedented scale of the army – and the fact most of them were volunteers – the boredom of trench warfare and the scale at which civilians were affected by the war. The following chapters each focussed on one particular theme; “Kinship,” “Futility,” and “Righteousness” as the main modes of political dissent, social criticism and patriotism. Charles Hamilton Sorley, Arthur Graeme West and Thomas Hardy fell into the “Kinship” category due to their sympathies for the German Soldiers, while, Ivor Gurney, Isaac Rosenberg and Margaret Postgate Cole were considered as advocates for the “futility” of war.
    [Show full text]