top of page
Search
  • sootallures

Four Poems from World War One

Updated: Jul 9, 2020

The Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me:

That there’s some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;

A body of England’s, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Questions:

1. Which noun is used a lot? (Repetition)

2. Why do you think the poet uses this word a lot?

3. Can you find some alliteration on line three?

4. Why does the poet think that a corner of a field will always be England?

5. The second stanza (verse) is quite spiritual and religious. Can you explain why?

6. Do you think the poet is suggesting that it is good to die for England?

7. This poem was written at the start of the war in 1914. How can you tell that it was written at the start of the war?

8. Can you find some alliteration in the second from last line?

9. How many syllables are there in each line?

10. Is there a rhyme scheme?

11. How do the syllables and the rhyme give the poem rhythm?

12. Can you find any other examples of repetition?

The General

“Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said

When we met him last week on our way to the line.

Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,

And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.

“He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack

As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both by his plan of attack.


By Jessie Pope


Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played, The red crashing game of a fight? Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight? Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’? Who’ll give his country a hand? Who wants a turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stand? Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much- Yet eagerly shoulders a gun? Who would much rather come back with a crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? Come along, lads – But you’ll come on all right – For there’s only one course to pursue, Your country is up to her neck in a fight, And she’s looking and calling for you.


Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Notes:

Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori

Is Latin and means “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

Questions:

1. How many stanzas (verses) are there?

2. Do all the stanzas have the same number of lines?

3. Guess your answer here: why do you think the poet has written stanzas with different numbers of lines?

4. How many syllables are there in each line?

5. What is the effect of that in terms of rhythm?

6. Is there a rhyme scheme?

7. What is the effect of that in terms of rhythm?

8. Imagery means words that create pictures in your head. Can you find three examples of imagery?

9. A simile begins with the word ‘as’ or ‘like’. Can you find three examples of similes?

10. Can you find any alliteration? What effect does alliteration have?

11. Why do you think the poet has used upper case and exclamation marks?

12. Personification is when we give something non-human the characteristics of a human. Can you find an example?

13. This poem is sarcastic in tone – do you agree?






10 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Trains and Football

Football Specials There was, of course, a close association Between late Victorian railways And the formation of football clubs: Manchester United FC grew from Newton Heath LYR FC (The Lancashire and

Swindon's GWR Heritage

Heritage ADVERTISEMENTHeritageWhat is ‘Heritage’? We all sort of know what heritage means, Don’t we, in a way … Something handed down from the past, A tradition, an inheritance, Be it cultural, tangib

Women's Work and the GWR

An A to Z of Women’s Work in the Past in the GWR in Peace and War A is for acetylene cutter and assembler and dismantler of automatic instruments and acetylene welder B is for booking clerk and brass

Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page