Poetry Thursday: A Reading of Some War Poetry

Geoffrey Hill talking about Owen (and other things):
• Geoffrey Hill Oxford L...
Steve Donoghue reads Eberhardt’s poem:
• Poetry Thursday: Richa...
My reading of Eberhardt’s poem:
• Lines from "The Fury o...
I believe an equivalent “joke” about sincerity came from The Best of the Best American Poetry: • Poetry Thursday: The B...

[@BookishTexan]

The WWI poems were among the first that affected me. I suppose it was their visceral nature, the anger smothered by weary acceptance of fate and circumstance, in other words the sincerity of those poems that broke through the thick shell of bravado and ego that covered me in my teens. So the sincerity of Owen’s words in the preface still speak to that younger me.

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@@BookishTexan I didn’t know that about you. It’s so odd that twice in about a week I’ve come across two important literary figures denigrating sincerity in poetry. 😂

[@apoetreadstowrite]

I wonder if Hill's Owen criticisms are prescient, or simply the indulgences of a contrarian?

[@MarilynMayaMendoza]

Owen was one of the first poets I read from WW1 Dulce et Decorum Est" Aloha

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@@MarilynMayaMendoza Aloha.

[@apoetreadstowrite]

I always wonder, if I'd been stranded in front of those 'Great War' recruitment posters, would I have found the courage to stand firm as pacifist, or would I have cowardly signed up, & done what was 'easy'. It's such a pickle, isn't it? This war poetry is so powerful (especially Owen), but...

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@@apoetreadstowrite There was so much pressure on those young men, it would be hard to resist.

[@apoetreadstowrite]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry:Yes, it really makes you admire (even more) those committed pacifists.