19303 - Poets of World War I

Course Overview

Rudyard Kipling enthusiastically supported Britain’s war aims. He encouraged his son John to enlist, but the boy twice was rejected due to poor eyesight. Kipling used his political connections to have him recruited. In France his only child died immediately in a blundered British campaign. The body was never identified. In Epitaphs of the War - Kipling's post-war collection of short poems - he wrote “If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied.” Over four years in trenches that stretched 475 miles, men’s attitudes about the glory of war changed. Many turned to poetry to express the horror, futility, and hopelessness of the conflict. Although some survived, most did not. Wilfred Owen wrote only five poems before he was killed. After his friend’s death, John McCrae wrote “In Flanders fields the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row . . . We are the Dead.” He also died. Join us to honor these poets and their firsthand accounts of World War I.