International Poetry of the First World War

Constance M. Ruzich is a Professor of English at Robert Morris University, USA. She runs the popular blog Behind Their Lines (https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com), dedicated to the discussion of the poetry of World War I.

• Table of Contents IntroductionSoldiers’ Lives Fragment Rupert BrookeThe Transport John Allan WyethThe Night Patrol Arthur Graeme WestIn No Man’s Land Ewart Alan MackintoshOn Patrol in No Man’s Land James Reese EuropeWar Song Albert-Paul Granier (trans. Ian Higgins)Dance of Death 1916 Hugo Ball (trans. Edmund Potts)Trench Poets Edgell RickwordVigil Giuseppe Ungaretti (trans. Jonathan Griffin)The Moles Cyril Morton HorneThe Song of the Mud Mary BordenStill Raining… Noël Garnier (trans. Ian Higgins)The Boys Who Live in the Ground Donald S. WhiteA Digger’s Disillusion K.L. TrentDuring the Bombardment Theodore Percival Cameron WilsonCricket: The Catch Frederick William HarveyThe Rainbow Leslie CoulsonThe Star-Shell Patrick MacGillBack to Rest William Noel HodgsonAfter the “Offensive” Theodore Herman van BeekBeaucourt Revisited A.P. HerbertRelieved Frederic ManningPicnic: Harbonnières to Bayonvillers John Allan WyethThe Bathe A.P. HerbertGoing In Henry Lamont SimpsonA Song of the Air Gordon AlchinTo a Taube Jessie PopeThe Hill Mary BordenAmmunition Column Gilbert FrankauUnloading Ambulance Train Carola OmanGramophone Tunes Eva DobellQuinze Vingt Helen MackayLittle Song of the Maimed Benjamin Péret (trans. David Gascoyne)Minds at WarStanding To Anton Schnack (trans. Patrick Bridgwater)Night Watch John Allan WyethNothing Much Guillaume Apollinaire (trans. Martin Sorrell)The Face Frederic ManningIII.—Fear Herbert ReadFever Albert-Paul Granier (trans. Ian Higgins)Prayer before Battle Alfred Lichtenstein (trans. by Sheldon Gilman, Robert Levine, and Harry Radford)Retreat Wilfrid Wilson GibsonThere is a healing magic in the night Colwyn PhilippsBivouacs Gilbert WaterhouseGoing Over Charles G.D. RobertsHome Francis LedwidgeOn the Plains of Picardy Hugh Stewart SmithPicardy Parodies No. 2 (W.B. Y--ts) William Oliphant DownA Lament and Sing Me to Sleep Patrick MacGillSelections from “Rhymes from a New Nursery” and “Alphabet of Limericks” Robert EassiePershing at the Front Arthur GuitermanLeft Behind Harry L. ParkerA Kiss Bernard Freeman TrotterAlbade Ford Madox Hueffer (Ford Madox Ford)To C.H.V. Robert Ernest VernèdeThe Raindrops on Your Old Tin Hat John Hunter WickershamCamouflage M.G.Picnic Rose MacaulaySeptember, 1918 Amy LowellHome Is Where the Pie Is AnonymousThe Soldier Mood William Kersley HolmesNoncombatants The Leaf Burners Ernest RhysBurning Beehives Edmond Rostand (trans. Ian Higgins)Going to the Front Hardwicke Drummond RawnsleyHymn of Hate Ernst Lissauer (trans. Barbara Henderson)New Year’s Wishes to the German Army Émile Cammaerts (trans. Tita Brand-Cammaerts)Regiments Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (trans. Ian Higgins)Penelope Dorothy ParkerVisé Maria Dobler Benemann (trans. Margaret Higonnet)Homes Margaret WiddemerAfter the Retreat May SinclairA Memory Margaret SackvilleMay, 1915 Charlotte MewAny Englishwoman Evelyn UnderhillI know the truth! Renounce all others! Marina TsvetaevaIn Hospital Edith NesbitSomme Film, 1916 C.H.B. KitchinThe Ballad of Bethlehem Steel Grace Isabel ColbronThe Farmer, 1917 Fredegond ShoveSpreading Manure Rose MacaulayI Sit and Sew Alice Moore Dunbar-NelsonTo the Patriotic Lady Across the Way Zelda (Rose Pastor Stokes)Portrait of a Mother Violet GillespieThe Mourners Robert W. ServiceWhen Will the War Be By? Charles MurrayWar Time Mary E. FullertonGone to the War Bernard Samuel GilbertSic Transit— Vera BrittainFrance May Wedderburn Cannan Making Sense of WarI Saw a Man This Morning Patrick Shaw-StewartA Meditation upon the Return of the Greeks Ivar Campbell A Litany in the Desert Alice Corbin (Henderson)He Went for a Soldier Ruth Comfort MitchellWar Mary Gilmore War Hedd Wyn (trans. Gillian Clarke)The Falling Leaves Margaret Postgate (Cole)Eastern Front Georg Trakl (trans. Christopher Middleton)The Camp Follower Maxwell BodenheimThe Other Side Alec WaughA Letter from the Front Henry NewboltSinging “Tipperary” William Kersley HolmesO Little David, Play on Your Harp Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr. To the Memory of Some I Knew Who Are Dead and Who Loved Ireland A.E. (George William Russell)America at War Gertrude SmithViolets—April 1915 Roland LeightonHigh Barbary James Howard StablesEpiphany Vision Mary-Adair Macdonald At Bethlehem—1915 Egbert T. SandfordVeni, Sancte Spiritus! Yann-Ber Kalloc’h/Jean-Pierre Calloc’h (trans. Ian Higgins)Solomon in All His Glory Geoffrey Studdert KennedyTo My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God Thomas M. Kettle‘Since They Have Died’ May Wedderburn CannanThe Gift of India Sarojini Naidu In the Ypres Sector Carola OmanRemembering the DeadLet Us Tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes Geoffrey Bache SmithFéri Bekassy Frances CornfordTelling the Bees Katharine TynanIn Memoriam Ewart Alan MackintoshAt the Front Wilhelm Klemm (trans. Patrick Bridgwater)To L.H.B. (1894 – 1915) Katherine MansfieldTo John William GrenfellSoldier-Poet Hervey AllenVictory Wilfrid Wilson GibsonThe Son Clifford DymentOut in a Gale of Fallen Leaves Marian AllenXX. Jo’s Requiem Ernest RhysAnzac Cove Leon GellertTo One Dead Francis Ledwidge1914 Ferenc Békássy Red Cross John Masefield Only a Boche Robert W. Service Glad That I Killed Yer and The Bullet Joseph LeeHallow-e’en, 1915 Winifred M. LettsHis Latch-Key John OxenhamTo the Dead Gerald Caldwell SiordetPerhaps— Vera BrittainNew Year, 1916 Ada May HarrisonReported Missing…. Anna Gordon Keownfrom “An Epilogue”: The Fluke and The Landscape J.C. SquireElegy on the Death of Bingo, Our Trench Dog Edward de SteinAftermathNovember Eleventh Hilmar R. Baukhage Paris, November 11, 1918 May Wedderburn CannanRemembrance Day Marion Angus Victory, whose calm gaze… Anna de Noailles (trans. Ian Higgins)To the Survivors Carola OmanThe Extra Gladys CromwellRecall-Up Marcel Sauvage (trans. Ian Higgins)Saturdays E.W. Pigott The Mascot Speaks RagsThe Heart of the World Joshua Henry Jones, Jr.The Dead René Arcos (trans. Ian Higgins)Reconciliation Margaret SackvilleEverything’s looted, betrayed and traded Anna Akhmatova (trans. A.S. Kline)The Other Possibility Erich Kästner (trans. Walter Kaufmann)High Wood John Stanley Purvis/Philip JohnsonEnvoie Edward de SteinAcknowledgmentsPrimary SourcesFurther ReadingIndex of Poets, Translators, and PoemsIndex of Poem Titles and First Lines

[Includes] some first-class verse unfamiliar to many readers ... well worth reading.