A Brief OVERVIEW

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World War I Began August 3, 1914 Ended November 11, 1918 Also called –The Great War –The War to End all Wars

Poets and POEMS

"My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity." Wilfred Owen ( ) poet, patriot, soldier, pacifist

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 disappointed shells that dropped 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 floundering 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. Dulce Et Decorum Est

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.

" Dearest Mother, So thick is the smoke in this cellar that I can hardly see by a candle 12 inches away. And so thick are the inmates that I can hardly write for pokes, nudges, and jolts. On my left, the company commander snores on a bench. It is a great life. I am more oblivious than the less, dear mother, of the ghastly glimmering of the guns outside and the hollow crashing of the shells. I hope you are as warm as I am, soothed in your room as I am here. I am certain you could not be visited by a band of friends half so fine as surround us here. There is no danger down here - or if any, it will be well over before you read these line..." Wildfred Owen – A letter home

Only a couple of days before the end of the war, Owen wrote this letter after he and his fellow soldiers took refuge from German shelling in the cellar of a destroyed house. They were all in high-spirits due to the speculation that the war would soon be over and the belief they might survive it. Owens was killed not long after finishing the letter. This was Owen’s LAST LETTER HOME

Life in the Trenches... was difficult, filthy and morose.

Trench System

The Front Line

Water Logged Trenches

Trench Foot Result from the daily exposure to filthy, disease-filled water common in the bottom of trenches.

Gas Masks Used to prevent a horrid, painful slow death resulting from mustard gas attacks.

Contaminated Water caused Dysentery

Preparing a fire for food Food had to be prepared on small fires.

Most governments made sure that the men in the trenches did not go hungry, even though there were shortages of food at home. The troops received plenty of tinned food, bread, jam and biscuits and the British also produced food called Maconochie, 'a meal in a tin', which was quite popular. Nevertheless, the rations were dull and sometimes inedible.