Part 1

1. The first video mentions that before WWI, war poets were concerned with patriotism and
the nobility of fighting and sacrificing for their country. Why did this change? Do you see
similar debates regarding art, literature, and entertainment today? This changed
because technological advancements were made that drastly effected war, and made
the violence drag on longer. Plus, governments started seeking other priorities during
wars instead of defense, so it felt as if lives were being thrown away carelessly.
2. In the second video (around 3:50), we see a passage that Owen wrote about his poetry.
He has no concern for poetry, he says, only war. For him, the job of the poet is to warn
and to be truthful. For you, what is the purpose of art or literature or entertainment during
wartime? I think that there are multiple purposes for art, literature, and entertainment
during war. One is as a way for people to express their feelings about the war, let out
heir feelings and beliefs. Then, people of al different backgrounds can share their points
of view. A second purpose is as a political tool. Art, literature, and entertainment can be
very influential on the public, so war-related media can impact how people think as
propaganda.
Part 2
The Man he Killed:
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown."
Marching:
But a subtler brain beats iron
To shoe the hoofs of death.
Two Fusiliers:
Show me the two so closely bound
As we, by the wet bond of blood,
By friendship blossoming from mud
Last Post:
and all those thousands dead
are shaking dried mud from their hair
and queuing up for home. Freshly alive,
a lad plays Tipperary to the crowd, released
from History
The Death Bed:
Light many lamps and gather round his bed.
Lend him your eyes, warm blood, and will to live.
Speak to him; rouse him; you may save him yet.
He's young; he hated war; how should he die
Part 3
3. How did he die? He was killed in action
4. How did he meet Siegfried Sassoon? Siegfried was a noted neurologist assigned to him.
5. What did he do before the war? He went to college and taught at a school
 6. Why did he enlist? It was expected of him as a young man
7. How did his experience with PTSD affect his writing? When he wrote poems they often
reflected these moments that he could not forget
Biography of Siegfried Sassoon
1. What did he do before the war? He went to college and taught at a school
2. How did he turn against the war? After being wounded, he spoke out that the war was
being prolonged by those with the power to end it
3. How did he meet Wilfred Owen? At a war hospital recieving care
4. Why was he considered to be a war hero? For carrying a wounded comrad to safety
during heavy fire
5. How did his experience in the war affect his writing? His writing became criticism for the
war and the experiences that soldiers had to endure
One Hundred Years of Poetry: The Magazine and War
1. According to this article, how did war poetry change over time? Use quotes or other
evidence from the text to back up your answer. War poetry changed over time by shifting
from glorifying war experinces to criticising them. Instead of writing patriotic poems to
memoralize the honor and bravery of soldiers, it became soldiers writing against war and
telling their horrific stories of the atrocities they had to go through, often through an
angry tone. The article cites a such poem, “it “strips the glory” from war: a World War I
battle scene, Stevens writes, is “not / like Agamemnon’s story, / Only, an eyeball in the
mud, / And Hopkins, / Flat and pale and gory!” This was what was happening to the war
poems over time.
2. As the last paragraph asks, can art and literature cause war? Bring about peace? Bear
witness to atrocities? Inspire change? I don’t think that art and literature has enough
power to either cause war or bring about peace, but it does have a heavy influence. It
can cause people to change the way they thinkor feel about certain things, and sway
them to certain opinions, and this can definitely impact society on they way they feel
about significant political events. However, this does not mean that art itself can cause or
end war, because that is a really big statement. War usually occurs from a buildup of
tension, and art and literature definitely add to this tension.
Part 4
3. After reading and viewing everything so far, what do you think? How have cultural and
literary monuments like these poems shaped how we view and understand war
(especially WWI)? Use evidence from the poems, videos, and articles to build your
answer. Cultural and literary moments like these poems have definitely shaped how we
view and understand war. As time passes, society changes, and a lot of this changes is
pushed through the mediums of art and literature. It’s a way people can express their
thoughts and feelings, as well are share memories and stories in a way that can
influence other’s opinions. At first, war poetry glorified the honor and sacrifice of war.
However, art and poetry of WW1 shifted this lense into showing a different side, the often
graphic horrors of the wartime experience.
Part 5