20th century – WW1 Poetry

Knowledge check:
1. What do you notice all three poems have in
common?
2. What were some of the themes in the poems?

3. What were the poets attitudes and opinions

towards WW1 in all three poems?

Watch the video on three WW1

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
poems and make notes on WW1
v=VMkTo9u0Mjs Poetry.
 WW1 facts – true or false
Which of the following facts are true and which are false?
Facts True or
false?
During the summer and autumn of 1914, France lost as many men on the battlefield as the US army would lose in all of the
20th century (the Vietnam War, Korean War, Gulf War and both WW1 and WW2).

During WW1, 230 soldiers died for each hour of the war.

There were 70,000,000 people in uniform and of that number, half were either killed, wounded or became prisoners of war.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed between 50-100 million people worldwide (or, 3-5% of the world’s population).

The US was in the war for just over a year and a half and in actual combat for only seven and a half months of that time.

So many people died that it was impossible to keep records of where they were buried. There are more than 300,000
unmarked graves in France and Belgium alone.
WW1 was the first war to be fought on three continents.

The heavy reparations and treaty signed by Germany are considered to be the leading factor which caused WW2.

The unpopular government and the enormous losses faced by the Russian population were a major cause of the Russian
Revolution of 1917.
The Ottoman Empire allegedly used the war as a cover for killing their Christian population, in particular the Armenians.
This is called ‘the first modern genocide’ and it is estimated 1.5 million people were killed.
 20th century – WW1 Poetry
Siegfried Sassoon

Knowledge check:
1. What did you learn about Siegfried
Sassoon’s views on the war?
2. What does shell shock mean?
3. What did soldiers in war experience
and what impact did it have on them?

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch? Watch the video and make notes
v=0j4ToeOC2n4 on Siegfried Sassoon.
 Read the poem ‘The
Dug-Out’.
Exploring dug-outs
The Dug-Out

Why do you lie with your legs ungainly

huddled,
And one arm bent across your sullen, cold,
Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch
you,
Deep-shadowed from the candle's guttering
gold;
And you wonder why I shake you by the
shoulder;
Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your
head...
You are too young to fall asleep for ever;
And when you sleep you remind me of the
dead.
Answer the following question:
• Why do you think the main character’s
face is described as being sullen?
• Why does Sassoon dislike watching this
person sleep?
• What do you think the narrator’s
relationship to the person described in the
poem is? Provide evidence to support your
answer.
• Why do you think the last two lines are in
italics?
• Identify three poetic techniques used by
Sassoon, and consider the effect of each
one.
 The Planning Grid

P E T A L TASK: Write ONE

Throughout This can be The This is From this
PETAL paragraph
the poem seen in the effective significant we can
words use of because it understand answering the
question below.

How is war presented in the poem The

Dug-Out by Siegfried Sassoon?