## Task 2: War poetry

WAR POETRY

Imagine going to war as a 19-year-old British young man in 1915. Initially honoured to go off to Belgium or France to fight for your country, but then faced by the horrors of war: life in the trenches, gas attacks and the unrelenting sound of canons. The First World War (28 July 1914- 11 November 1918) was a war in which over nine million soldiers died. It was supposed to be a war to end all wars. Unfortunately, we know this to be untrue.

Assignment: WWI

Watch the first four minutes of this video to understand Watch the next video (3 minutes) about life in the trenches:

how the war started:

:

Describe in your own words what life in the trenches really meant.

Assignment: war poets

Some of these soldiers fighting at the front shared their experiences by writing poetry. At first these poems tended to be optimistic and patriotic, but as the war continued an angrier mood started to appear.

Read the poems In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and The Soldier by Rupert Brooke in your Poems and Extracts reader. You can use the following links to hear these poems read out loud:

In Flanders Fields The Soldier

Although you might not understand every detail of these two poems, try to understand the main idea.

Answer the following questions:

- What is described in both poems?
- Explain for both poems whether they are patriottic or not. Explain your answer by giving examples from the poems.

Now read a third poem in your Poems and Extracts reader: To the Warmongers by Siegfried Sassoon. Answer the following questions:

- What is described in the first part of the poem ("I'm back again .... pass them by.")?
- "For you our battles shine". Who is or are meant with 'you'?
- How does this poem compare to the two previous poems?

Assignment: Siegfried Sassoon

Sassoon is famous for his angry poems about the war. He even took one step further. He did not only protest by means of his poems, but also in another way. Find out on the internet what he did and what the consequences were.