International Poetry of the First World War

Constance M. Ruzich is a Professor of English at Robert Morris University, USA. She runs the popular blog Behind Their Lines (https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com), dedicated to the discussion of the poetry of World War I.

Table of Contents
Introduction

Soldiers’ Lives
Fragment Rupert Brooke
The Transport John Allan Wyeth
The Night Patrol Arthur Graeme West
In No Man’s Land Ewart Alan Mackintosh
On Patrol in No Man’s Land James Reese Europe
War Song Albert-Paul Granier (trans. Ian Higgins)
Dance of Death 1916 Hugo Ball (trans. Edmund Potts)
Trench Poets Edgell Rickword
Vigil Giuseppe Ungaretti (trans. Jonathan Griffin)
The Moles Cyril Morton Horne
The Song of the Mud Mary Borden
Still Raining… Noël Garnier (trans. Ian Higgins)
The Boys Who Live in the Ground Donald S. White
A Digger’s Disillusion K.L. Trent
During the Bombardment Theodore Percival Cameron Wilson
Cricket: The Catch Frederick William Harvey
The Rainbow Leslie Coulson
The Star-Shell Patrick MacGill
Back to Rest William Noel Hodgson
After the “Offensive” Theodore Herman van Beek
Beaucourt Revisited A.P. Herbert
Relieved Frederic Manning
Picnic: Harbonnières to Bayonvillers John Allan Wyeth
The Bathe A.P. Herbert
Going In Henry Lamont Simpson
A Song of the Air Gordon Alchin
To a Taube Jessie Pope
The Hill Mary Borden
Ammunition Column Gilbert Frankau
Unloading Ambulance Train Carola Oman
Gramophone Tunes Eva Dobell
Quinze Vingt Helen Mackay
Little Song of the Maimed Benjamin Péret (trans. David Gascoyne)



Minds at War
Standing To Anton Schnack (trans. Patrick Bridgwater)
Night Watch John Allan Wyeth
Nothing Much Guillaume Apollinaire (trans. Martin Sorrell)
The Face Frederic Manning
III.—Fear Herbert Read
Fever Albert-Paul Granier (trans. Ian Higgins)
Prayer before Battle Alfred Lichtenstein (trans. by Sheldon Gilman, Robert Levine, and Harry Radford)
Retreat Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
There is a healing magic in the night Colwyn Philipps
Bivouacs Gilbert Waterhouse
Going Over Charles G.D. Roberts
Home Francis Ledwidge
On the Plains of Picardy Hugh Stewart Smith
Picardy Parodies No. 2 (W.B. Y--ts) William Oliphant Down
A Lament and Sing Me to Sleep Patrick MacGill
Selections from “Rhymes from a New Nursery” and “Alphabet of Limericks” Robert Eassie
Pershing at the Front Arthur Guiterman
Left Behind Harry L. Parker
A Kiss Bernard Freeman Trotter
Albade Ford Madox Hueffer (Ford Madox Ford)
To C.H.V. Robert Ernest Vernède
The Raindrops on Your Old Tin Hat John Hunter Wickersham
Camouflage M.G.
Picnic Rose Macaulay
September, 1918 Amy Lowell
Home Is Where the Pie Is Anonymous
The Soldier Mood William Kersley Holmes

Noncombatants
The Leaf Burners Ernest Rhys
Burning Beehives Edmond Rostand (trans. Ian Higgins)
Going to the Front Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley
Hymn of Hate Ernst Lissauer (trans. Barbara Henderson)
New Year’s Wishes to the German Army Émile Cammaerts (trans. Tita Brand-Cammaerts)
Regiments Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (trans. Ian Higgins)
Penelope Dorothy Parker
Visé Maria Dobler Benemann (trans. Margaret Higonnet)
Homes Margaret Widdemer
After the Retreat May Sinclair
A Memory Margaret Sackville
May, 1915 Charlotte Mew
Any Englishwoman Evelyn Underhill
I know the truth! Renounce all others! Marina Tsvetaeva
In Hospital Edith Nesbit
Somme Film, 1916 C.H.B. Kitchin
The Ballad of Bethlehem Steel Grace Isabel Colbron
The Farmer, 1917 Fredegond Shove
Spreading Manure Rose Macaulay
I Sit and Sew Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson
To the Patriotic Lady Across the Way Zelda (Rose Pastor Stokes)
Portrait of a Mother Violet Gillespie
The Mourners Robert W. Service
When Will the War Be By? Charles Murray
War Time Mary E. Fullerton
Gone to the War Bernard Samuel Gilbert
Sic Transit— Vera Brittain
France May Wedderburn Cannan


Making Sense of War
I Saw a Man This Morning Patrick Shaw-Stewart
A Meditation upon the Return of the Greeks Ivar Campbell
A Litany in the Desert Alice Corbin (Henderson)
He Went for a Soldier Ruth Comfort Mitchell
War Mary Gilmore
War Hedd Wyn (trans. Gillian Clarke)
The Falling Leaves Margaret Postgate (Cole)
Eastern Front Georg Trakl (trans. Christopher Middleton)
The Camp Follower Maxwell Bodenheim
The Other Side Alec Waugh
A Letter from the Front Henry Newbolt
Singing “Tipperary” William Kersley Holmes
O Little David, Play on Your Harp Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.
To the Memory of Some I Knew Who Are Dead and Who Loved Ireland A.E. (George William Russell)
America at War Gertrude Smith
Violets—April 1915 Roland Leighton
High Barbary James Howard Stables
Epiphany Vision Mary-Adair Macdonald
At Bethlehem—1915 Egbert T. Sandford
Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Yann-Ber Kalloc’h/Jean-Pierre Calloc’h (trans. Ian Higgins)
Solomon in All His Glory Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy
To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God Thomas M. Kettle
‘Since They Have Died’ May Wedderburn Cannan
The Gift of India Sarojini Naidu
In the Ypres Sector Carola Oman

Remembering the Dead
Let Us Tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes Geoffrey Bache Smith
Féri Bekassy Frances Cornford
Telling the Bees Katharine Tynan
In Memoriam Ewart Alan Mackintosh
At the Front Wilhelm Klemm (trans. Patrick Bridgwater)
To L.H.B. (1894 – 1915) Katherine Mansfield
To John William Grenfell
Soldier-Poet Hervey Allen
Victory Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
The Son Clifford Dyment
Out in a Gale of Fallen Leaves Marian Allen
XX. Jo’s Requiem Ernest Rhys
Anzac Cove Leon Gellert
To One Dead Francis Ledwidge
1914 Ferenc Békássy
Red Cross John Masefield
Only a Boche Robert W. Service
Glad That I Killed Yer and The Bullet Joseph Lee
Hallow-e’en, 1915 Winifred M. Letts
His Latch-Key John Oxenham
To the Dead Gerald Caldwell Siordet
Perhaps— Vera Brittain
New Year, 1916 Ada May Harrison
Reported Missing…. Anna Gordon Keown
from “An Epilogue”: The Fluke and The Landscape J.C. Squire
Elegy on the Death of Bingo, Our Trench Dog Edward de Stein

Aftermath
November Eleventh Hilmar R. Baukhage
Paris, November 11, 1918 May Wedderburn Cannan
Remembrance Day Marion Angus
Victory, whose calm gaze… Anna de Noailles (trans. Ian Higgins)
To the Survivors Carola Oman
The Extra Gladys Cromwell
Recall-Up Marcel Sauvage (trans. Ian Higgins)
Saturdays E.W. Pigott
The Mascot Speaks Rags
The Heart of the World Joshua Henry Jones, Jr.
The Dead René Arcos (trans. Ian Higgins)
Reconciliation Margaret Sackville
Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded Anna Akhmatova (trans. A.S. Kline)
The Other Possibility Erich Kästner (trans. Walter Kaufmann)
High Wood John Stanley Purvis/Philip Johnson
Envoie Edward de Stein

Acknowledgments

Primary Sources

Further Reading

Index of Poets, Translators, and Poems

Index of Poem Titles and First Lines