Creative Minds Think Alike During WWI

After reading about the war poets I noticed a real connection between artists and poets who served during WWI. The war affected many aspects of their lives including their work. Regardless of the country they served for or their position in it, both Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Siegfried Sassoon provided evidence of their views of the war in their works.

Kirchner volunteered as an artillery driver for Germany in 1914. Since he was known to be a very anxiety stricken being at a young age, his position in the war did nothing more than provide an unhealthy state for him. It has been said that he was extremely afraid of the war stripping him of his creativity and had overwhelming panic. Kirchner's most literal works on the war, Artillerymen in the Shower, 1915 and Self-Portrait as a Soldier, 1915, are prime examples of his outlook on the war and how it made him feel. In Self-Portrait as a Soldier, Kirchner provides evidence that his experience in the war made him the victim. His hand is noticeably cut off in this piece which could mean he is no longer able to paint. This could also be a reference to the way the Germans would amputate the arms of Belgium children. The work is also calculated expressionism which could represent the very structured and systematic foundation of being part of the military.

In 1914, Sassoon enlisted not long before England declared war and became a second lieutenant. His experiences in the war helped him produce some of his most popular works. Within his poems you can most certainly find realistic aspects of the war. This could likely be attributed to the time he spent studying the trenches. In poems such as "The General" and "'Blighters'", Sassoon's ability to criticize is widely broadcasted. In "'Blighters'", he shows anger toward the civilian world for their extreme efforts to shout nationalism for all to hear. For those in the war it was clearly nothing to celebrate about; it was not "The Great War". Sassoon's "The General" described the honest truth on what the soldiers really thought about those who had higher authority than them. The satirical nature of the poem creates wonderful ways of describing of the hypocrisy and incompetence of the General. The soldiers seemed to be annoyed and upset with the General's sarcasm, irony, and detachment to his men.

There is no doubt that innovators during WWI were influenced by the war in many ways.