The use of imagery in WWI poetry

War is, undoubtedly, a gruesome experience. The deaths, maimed bodies, torn apart families, and destroyed homes are just some of the many terrible facts that accompany war. And, WWI, with its trench warfare and other modern war techniques, is certainly no exception. As a result, we find that from WWI comes some very descriptive, gruesome poetry. Certainly not the uplifting poetry of the preceding generation, WWI poetry is the naturally violent child born out of the ravages of the first “Great” war. The imagery of all the poetry we studied under the WWI poets fits this description, but two in particular, Siegfried Sassoon’s “To His Dead Body” and Ivor Gurney’s “To His Love,” both present such poignant imagery that they deserve special attention.

Sassoon’s “To His Dead Body” is an address to an unnamed soldier. The poem focuses on the soldier’s death; however, it says nothing of the actual mechanisms which brought about his death, but focuses instead on the soldier’s passing from life into death. Indeed, rather than citing gun-fire or a mortar as the responsibility for the soldier’s death, Sassoon gives no explanation for the event, but simply describes death as a “roaring gloom” which “surged inward” on the soldier. In this way, Sassoon, draws attention to death itself, rather than the cause of death. Sassoon then continues his trend by describing how “Phantoms of thought and memory thinned and fled” the soldier’s mind and he eventually went to face “Dear, red-faced God.” The imagery of this “red-faced God” possibly implies anger, and shows how war does more than kill a man, but it brings him face to face with eternity. Therefore, Sassoon’s imagery is especially poignant in this poem, not only because it describes death in artistic terms such as “roaring gloom,” but also, with his “red-faced God,” Sassoon takes readers beyond the event of death to the eternity that follows.

Yet, thoughts of eternity aside, there are also WWI poems which bring readers right into the here and now of the soldiers’ experiences. Such is the case with Ivor Gurney’s “To His Love.” This poem is about one soldier’s lament over the death of another soldier who, presumably, was one of his friends. The imagery in the beginning of the poem is deceptively picturesque. His images of Cotswold, “Where the sheep feed/ Quietly and take no heed” and the “violets of pride” they will place over the soldier’s dead body, lead readers into the false illusion that this poem is a gentler take on war and death. There are subtle warnings throughout the poem, such as the grim reminder that “You would not know him now…”, but these warnings are lost to readers among the more pleasant images of the men “driving [their] small boat” on the Severn. However, all illusions of pleasantry are cast off when Gurney ends his poem with the gruesome plea, “Hide that red wet/ Thing I must somehow forget.” In this way, Gurney’s imagery is extremely effective in that the earlier images, which could almost be seen as a satire to poetry which glorifies war, are dispelled by the harsh reality that war is a gruesome place in which men are turned into nothing more then “red wet thing[s]”. Readers are violently awakened to the reality of the soldiers’ experience, and this is because of Gurney’s excellent use of imagery.

Poetry, whether it is meant to uplift, provoke, or inspire is written for many purposes. During WWI, it was clearly meant to shed light on the harsh realities of war. This was accomplished through the work of many poets, but in particular, Sassoon and Gurney truly immerse readers in the gruesomeness of war. It is not pleasant, nor is it intended to be, but through their effective use of imagery, both poets give readers a small glimpse of what war really is.