The grotesque war: British poetry of World War I

Mark Edwin Dollar, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation examines the uses of the grotesque in British poetry from the Great War and demonstrates how this grotesque is different from many preceding variations. Unlike those prevalent in earlier eras, this one offers little in the way of comforting perspectives about death, and it in no way uses humor to achieve irony. Neither does the grotesque in the war suggest a carnival world where institutional norms are turned upside down as a form of satire. Rather, this grotesque serves as a coping mechanism for artists who encounter strange and ominous circumstances; it expresses the poet's state of mind in reaction to dire events. The grotesque images of soldier-poets Edmund Blunden, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, Herbert Read, and David Jones are deeply personal visions of death that reveal their ongoing struggles with fear, grief, or guilt. For instance, Blunden imagines a sentient and angry natural world which devours soldiers; Sassoon is haunted by the ghosts of dead comrades, and Rosenberg conceives of a rat-God which feeds on the souls of the slain. Read instills his fears of absolute powers into images of a war machine, and Jones connects his vilest memories to Celtic war legends in order to mythologize his unit at the Somme. By redefining their most painful memories as fantasy, the poets control them. While they are consistent in their disgust for the war, these poets often focus on more intimate concerns than pacifism. They revert to traditional, unrealistic language about death in order to cope with their personal anguish over the war.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Rowe, Purdue University.

Subject Area

British and Irish literature|Literature

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