Veterans Day, November 11, 2018, marked 100 years since the end of World War I, which lasted from July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918, and resulted in an unprecedented amount of destruction. World War I, also known as “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars,” left more than 16 million soldiers and civilians dead, destabilized the European economy, and caused a large-scale shift of power on the international stage that would ultimately become one of the causes of World War II.
Among the great figures of the war were its documentarians—the poets who served in the war as soldiers or witnessed its effects in their time and responded with their personal accounts. Many of their poems remain well-known today for their unflinching reflections on the tolls of battle, like Wilfred Owen’s "Anthem for Doomed Youth," in which he describes “Only the monstrous anger of the guns. / Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.”
Read about the poets and poetry of World War I, and also check out essays, lesson plans, ephemera, and other resources.