War Poetry of the First and Second World Wars

TALK: Join Peter Weeks for a thought-provoking exploration of the poetry inspired by the First and Second World Wars, brought to life through readings by Anni Davey and Andrew Smith. War poetry has great power. In this talk, Peter Weeks, who has studied and enjoyed war poetry for many years, explores the poems written by men and women who took part in the two World Wars. The poems will be brought to life through readings by Anni Davey and Andrew Smith. The price of becoming a war poet was often very high: mental and physical trauma, and for many, a violent death far from home. Peter will consider how these extraordinary experiences produced some of the most powerful and memorable literature of the twentieth century. The talk will explore the wide range of emotional responses found in First World War poetry -- enthusiasm, surprise, joy, horror, fear, hopelessness, bitterness, compassion and anger -- and how the poetry of the Second World War was different, reflecting a very different and more complex conflict. Why did it take something as terrible as war to produce such powerful poetry? And can we ever fully appreciate the horrors these young men and women witnessed? Featuring poets including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, Ivor Gurney, Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Vera Brittain, Charles Causley and Keith Douglas.