Image of World War I in British Poetry

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to portray selected features of World War I as they appear in the British war poetry and put them into context with the text-book knowledge of the war. The subsequent analysis offers an insight into the minds of British civilians on the Home Front and British soldiers on the Western Front. It chronologically maps the change of attitude towards the war as well as the process of alienation between the soldiers and the general public. World War I is presented as a milestone for Britain because it altered some of its traditional stereotypes and ways of thinking, both in treating their own citizens and other nations.