Discussion Questions
June 4, 2014

  1. What is the portrayal of the soldier in "The Soldier Imagined"?  Is there a common theme which unites the various countries?  What do these representations tell us about  the society which produced such an image?
  2. What are the comparisons that can be drawn between "The Soldier Imagined" and "The Soldiers' Reality"?
  3. What are the roles which children played in wartime propaganda"  Why were children "essential victims" in the war?
  4. What do we learn about the nature of warfare from Fussell and from Sassoon's "A Raiding Party"?
  5. What is the message/imagery in Brooke's poems?  Why would the term 'first generation' war poet be applied to him?
  6. What are Sassoon's views of the war, of the soldier, and of death created in his poems?
  7. Some literary historians have argued that of the war poets, Wilfred Owen is the better poet.  Do you agree or disagree, and why?
  8. From all of the poems, which poem did you find to have the greatest impact, and why?  From these poems, what did you find to be the most striking image?
  9. Overall, what value does poetry have for the historian of war?  Can poetry be used to examine the nature of the war experience, and if so, how?  Are there other sources which are "better" for the study of war, and if so what/why?