Discussion Questions

March 9, 2004

**note:  Questions for Why Stay We Here?  will be distributed in class.

1. What is the image of war, of the soldier, and of death that Brooke creates in his sonnets?  How do those images compare to images on the same themes created by Sassoon and Owen?
2. What are Sassoon's views of the war, of the soldier, and of death created in his poems?  How does this compare to his "A Raiding Party" and how would you account for any differences?
3. What do we learn from these poets about the dichotomy of the reality vs. the unreality of war?
4. From all of the poems, which poem did you find to have the greatest impact, and why?  From the poems, what did you find to be the most striking image?
5. How do these poems reinforce themes we have examined to this point in the other materials?
6. What does Beckett mean when he says that "...the war fitted both within the context of cultural existing movements as well as pushing them in new directions..."?
7. What does the poetry by women add to our understanding of the war?  Does it differ in theme, content, etc. from the poetry by men?  Do the poems by women reinforce themes we have already discussed with respect to women?
8. Overall, what value does poetry have for the historian of war?  Can poetry be used to examine the nature of the war experience, and if so, how?
9. If Vera Brittain and Seigfried Sassoon were to go out for a beer, what would they talk about?  On what would they agree, and on what would they disagree, in their conversation?
10. Fussell argues that "One of the cruxes of the war...is the collision between events and the language available...to describe them."  If Fussell is correct, how can we as historians ever understand the war if we are forced to rely on a language which is deficient in expressing the full experience of war?  Is Fussell correct?  Would such a limitation apply to other sources available (ie images) for studying the war?