Poets of World War I: National Perspectives
From Apollinaire to Rilke, and from Brooke to Sassoon: a sampling of poets writing during World War I
BY The Editors
To commemorate the centennial of World War I, we present a selection of poets who served as soldiers, medical staff, journalists, or volunteers.
Some poets glorified the cause patriotically—trumpeting the older, traditional notions of duty and honor, while mourning the millions of dead. Meanwhile, many younger soldier-poets shirked the platitudes and flowery language of the past and infused their work with war’s gruesome realities to strip modern war of its old-fashioned glory.
Our list—sorted by country, then alphabetically—is not comprehensive, but it serves as a starting point for readers interested in exploring World War I from many perspectives. Also be sure to take a look at our sampler of the Poetry of World War I.