Keywords

English poetry, Great War Poetry, L. Lula Greene Richards

Abstract

English poetry of the Great War is famous for its (sometimes naive) patriotism, its black humor and satire, and its ability to paint the ugly reality of twentieth-century war in a way that has haunted readers and influenced subsequent writers ever since. The poet and memoirist Robert Graves (1895–1985) wrote a revealing poem in 1918 that summed up his war poetry and his war experience. “The Patchwork Quilt” combines curious images of domesticity and femininity—“patterned silks and old brocade / Small faded rages in memory rich,” curious, because they’re not the images you’d expect in (especially male) “war poetry”—with the more recognizable symbols of manly soldiering: the muddied khaki uniforms of the British and the field grey of the Germans, the latter torn and clotted with blood.

Original Publication Citation

Means, Robert S. “‘Try To Be As Brave’: Cross-Continental Comparisons of Great WarPoetry.” Utah Historical Quarterly (UHQ) 86.3 (Summer 2018): 234-253. [Withadditional supportive material for the article on the UHQ website athttps://history.utah.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2018/11/Means_WWI_Poetry.pdf .]