First World War

(Also see: ' The War, The Great War, The First World War' - blog post by Stuart Lee about how wars earn their name.

The Great War (also known as World War One, and the First World War) was a global combat centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The Great War was so ferocious in its magnitude and destruction that it inspired, more than any other conflict in human history, hundreds of writers to produce work related to the combat. These were not only the combatants in the trenches but modern authors writing in the generations that followed.

Read the essay: First World War by Charlotte Barrett

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Edward Thomas

Wilfred Owen

#	Title	Description	Contributor
1	What is a War Poem?	In this Open Day taster lecture, Kate McLoughlin explores how we might define a war poem,...	Kate McLoughlin

#	Title	Description	Contributor
1	The First World War, India and Empire	Professor Santanu Das discusses the complexity of commemoration, the messiness of history and...	Santanu Das, Kate McLoughlin
2	Edmund Blunden	Margi Blunden, daughter of Edmund Blunden, talks about her father and his work.	Margi Blunden
3	Impact of the 1914 – 1918 Poets	Adrian Barlow looks at the impact of World War One poets in the years immediately following the...	Adrian Barlow
4	'Earth Voices Whispering’: Reading Ireland’s Poetry of WWI: An Introduction	Professor Gerald Dawe relates the Irish poetry of World War One to the history of Ireland itself...	Gerald Dawe
5	David Jones	Often overlooked, Dr Stuart Lee introduces David Jones and his seminal work 'In Parenthesis'....	Stuart Lee
6	Isaac Rosenberg: ‘Fierce Imaginings’ – the Private and the Poet	Author and editor, Jean Liddiard, presents the life and work of Isaac Rosenberg.	Jean Liddiard
7	Ivor Gurney: A Poet born out of War	Dr Philip Lancaster presents the life of literary musician Ivor Guney, and introduces some the...	Philip Lancaster
8	Manuscripts	In this short talk Dr Stuart Lee introduces some of the primary sources of World War One poetry...	Stuart Lee
9	Edward Thomas: Edwardian War Poet	Dr Guy Cuthbertson takes an in-depth look at the poet Edward Thomas.	Guy Cuthbertson
10	Popular Poetry	Dr Stuart Lee discusses the popular poetry of the War years and the formation of the canon in...	Stuart Lee
11	‘On your lips my life is hung’: Robert Graves and War	Dr Charles Mundye takes a look at how Robert Graves' experiences and feelings about War that...	Charles Mundye
12	Poetry vs. History	What place do the poets and their work have in the historical analysis of the War? Dr Stuart Lee...	Stuart Lee
13	Georgians and Others	Dr Stuart Lee gives a short introduction to the poetry movements that led up to the War.	Stuart Lee
14	The Early Poets	Dr Alisa Miller looks at the popular poets in the early years of the War and the way that the...	Alisa Miller
15	Poetry of the Empire	World War One was a conflict of empire, not of nation. In this lecture Dr Simon Featherstone...	Simon Featherstone
16	Siegfried Sassoon	Meg Crane looks at the war poems of Siegfried Sassoon, framed by the first and last (non-war)...	Meg Crane
17	Wilfred Owen	Professor Jon Stallworthy, editor and biographer of Wilfred Owen, introduces one of the most...	Jon Stallworthy
18	Women Poets	Dr Jane Potter looks at a range of women poets who wrote during, and in the years that followed...	Jane Potter
19	War Poetry	Dr Mark Rawlinson explores the relationship between War and War Poetry using Owen's famous '...	Mark Rawlinson

#	Essay Title	Description	Contributor
1	This is a place one can go mad in – Ivor Gurney, Asylum Poet	Ivor Gurney was a First World War poet and a composer of beautiful songs, and orchestral and...	Kate Kennedy
2	An Introduction to Teaching Wilfred Owen	Wilfred Owen has always been one of my favourite writers to teach, because his poetry is like a...	Lucy Freeland
3	Wilfred Owen: Resonances	Owen's enduring legacy comes in a variety of shapes and forms, from Benjamin Britten's War...	Brigitte Friant-Kessler
4	Owen's influence on Carol Ann Duffy	Carol Ann Duffy's poem "An Unseen" depicts a soldier going off to war, but we don't know which...	Marcy Tanter
5	"The Poetry is in the Pity": Wilfred Owen and the Memory of the First World War	A memorial to the poets of the First World War stands in the corner of Westminster Abbey....	Vincent Trott
6	4-11 November 1918: Wilfred Owen and armistice Day in Memory and History	In an early preface to his collected war poems, Wilfred Owen wrote of his work that "The subject...	Alex Nordlund
7	Wilfred Owen: The '60s Poet	With the centenary of the first Armistice Day - and the centenary of Wilfred Owen's death a week...	Harry Ricketts
8	Dulce et Decorum Est: Wilfred Owen’s Latin	Wilfred Owen fought hard to learn Latin. He was acutely aware of the importance of the classical...	Elizabeth Vandiver
9	At the Water’s Edge: Wilfred Owen and Water	By the look of the photograph reproduced in Jon Stallworthy's biography, it was a fairly run-of-...	Gerald Dawe
10	Postcard from the Front Lines of Teaching "Dulce et Decorum Est"	Wilfred Owen is the most famous of the World War One soldier-poets, and "Dulce et Decorum Est"...	Eleanor Mary Boudreau
11	SHEER: Setting Wilfred Owen to Music	"I can find no word to qualify my experiences except the word SHEER... It passed the...	Tim Watts
12	"Smile, Smile, Smile": Wilfred Owen and the Politicians	Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag And smile, smile, smile...	Douglas Kerr
13	Wilfred Owen and the Modern Elegy	Owen's elegies are characterised by his scepticism of the genre's consolatory power. Such...	Emma Suret
14	Reliving Wilfred Owen's 'Exposure' in Louis Simpson's World War II Poem 'The Battle'	Wilfred Owen’s legacy is often characterized by hallmarks such as his use of pararhyme or half-...	Michael Sarnowski
15	First World War	The Great War (also known as World War One, and the First World War) was a global combat centred...	Charlotte Barrett

#	Resource Title	Description	Contributor
1	Portraits of Wilfred Owen	By Félicia Laude Acrylic paint and ink on dyed linen, 2018, 150 x 230 cm. ...	Félicia Laude
2	Kouni gnani yli yégé	By Nadia Ogou Batik, serigraphy and installation, 2018, 225 x 125 cm The artist's...	Nadia Ogou
3	Le masque forestier	By Mathilde Blondeel Colour pencils, 2018, 42 x 29.7 cm based on vegetal material collected...	Mathilde Blondeel

#	Resource Title	Description	Contributor
1	Teaching materials by Lucy Freeland	A sample of teaching material used with a class of Yr 9 students studying First World War poetry...	Lucy Freeland

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First World War

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