Thursday 1/27: World War I in Literature

Link to attend class on Zoom tonight is here. The passcode is 607243.

Zoom recording of the class can be found here.

If you'd like to take a second look at Mark's Powerpoint of quotes from WWI vets, you'll find it below, as a PDF file.

Read or view before class:

Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est

Sigfried Sassoon, “Survivors,” https://www.bartleby.com/136/32.html

John Mcrae, “In Flanders Field” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields

Ernest Hemingway, “Big Two-Hearted River” (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/hem_river.html)

Prepare or organize before class:

As you read the poems for this week, consider how these poems speak to World War I specifically. What is unique about World War I in relation to other wars and how do these poets address that? Jot down a list of the images, metaphors, or allusions that stand out to you.

How is Nick’s return, in Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River”, complicated by his experiences of war? How is the primary metaphor of the river related to this? How does Hemingway change the meaning of the river throughout the story?