The Inspired Word is about poetry.
The First World War caused suffering to countless millions. The weariness, discomfort and fear of those in the trenches, the agonies of the wounded and the grief of those bereft of their loved ones. But, as is often the case, from the darkest of experiences the finest art is born. Many poems were written by those affected by the war and this quiz is about those writers.
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The line is taken from Kipling's Epitaphs of the War, a collection of poems dedicated to those who died during WWI. He is perhaps most famous for his children's stories which include The Jungle Book. He died in London in 1936
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In his letter, Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration, Sassoon said, "I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it... I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust."
A year prior to writing this letter Sassoon had been awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry. It is thought that this is why he was not court marshalled. Instead he was sent to a war hospital, where he was treated for shell-shock. He died in Wiltshire in 1967 |
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Here is the poem in full:
Dark clouds are smouldering into red While down the craters morning burns. The dying soldier shifts his head To watch the glory that returns; He lifts his fingers toward the skies Where holy brightness breaks in flame; Radiance reflected in his eyes, And on his lips a whispered name. You’d think, to hear some people talk, That lads go West with sobs and curses, And sullen faces white as chalk, Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses. But they’ve been taught the way to do it Like Christian soldiers; not with haste And shuddering groans; but passing through it With due regard for decent taste |
Owen's poem describes the horrors of war and ends with the lines:
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. The Latin is taken from the first line of a poem written by the ancient Roman writer, Horace. The whole line in English is, How sweet and honourable it is to die for one's country. |
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Owen died on 4th November 1918, exactly one week before the armistice which ended the hostilities. The telegram, which broke the news of Owen's death to his parents, reached them on Armistice Day, 11th November 1918
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Hodgson was awarded the Military Cross for holding a captured trench for 36 hours without reinforcements or supplies during the battle of Loos in 1915. He died in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, when he was shot in the neck by enemy machine guns. He was aged only 23
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The lines, which are often quoted at remembrance services, are taken from Brooke's poem The Soldier. Brooke himself died during the war, though not at the hands of the enemy. He was bitten by a mosquito and the bite became infected. Brooke died on 23rd April 1915, of blood poisoning
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McCrae had studied medicine and was a professor of pathology. During the war he served as a field surgeon and he died of pneumonia whilst still in command of No. 3 Canadian General Hospital in Boulogne. His poem was written after the death of his friend and former student, Alexis Helmer, who was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres
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After a battle, which he had survived, Thomas stood up to light his pipe and was killed by the blast from a late-fired shell. He died on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917. His most famous poem, In Memoriam, has only four lines:
The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood This Eastertide call into mind the men, Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should Have gathered them and will do never again |
Regular soldiers needed to be 5 ft 3in (160 cm) to serve. The army brought in special battalions for those over 5 ft (152 cm) so that they could serve. Rosenberg continued his art and poetry during the war until he was killed in action on 1st April 1918 after returning from a night patrol
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