The War Poets (review)

Reviews The War Poets. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2000. Collin Hughes Washington State University The words of Brook, Owen, and Sassoon represent a mere moment of antiwar sentiment within a longer tradition ofwar poetry that primarily spurred romantic tales ofduty-bound soldiers forsaking their sweethearts for god and country. The poetry ofwar almost innately transmogrifies into tales ofnationalism, inspiringjingoist songs that celebrate the political course ofthe British empire. The film for the humanities offers us the moving yet myopic prophecy ofthe imperialist muse from Anglo-Saxon times to the 20th century. One of the chiefmysteries ofthis film is that the creators never acknowledge theirperspective—a single, poetic and politicalstrand oftheexperiences ofyoung men inwar. In the traditional way ofshowmanship within the empire, the British perspective becomes virtually the only perspective. They call war the catalyst for art, but ignore Homer. Yet, the film offers moments offine criticism and analysis, especiallyfromJon Stallworthy ofOxford University.The accompaniment ofvalor is reflective misery and madness; the eternal vitality ofwar is the poet's translation and acculturation ofhorror, luck, and, of course, glory. Warriors will brave any hellhole. Into the valley ofdeath rode the six hundred poets. There are few exceptions . War poets seldom take flight. They are the journalists surrounded by poisonous gas and flame; and importantly, while finally crawling the charred ground within the ideology ofwar, they have always first followed their marching orders. For art's sake, the film ignores the implications brewing beneath the surface of most war poems. Still we know that using rhyme and meter to endorse war is as old as verse itself; and more so, the art ofthe empire explains why executive decisions won't be judged. The impulse toward violence is sophisticated enough to allow the illusion ofindependence. We are patronized while the poetic muse converts conflict into long-term power and riches with a whole array ofwords that conceal conventional prejudices. A few young artists, a handful only, cry out against the propaganda, the true poet soldiers now dead. It seems that a species capable of creating the most sweeping destruction is also capable of pondering the sweepingly idiotic appeal of doing so. The film reminds us that despite our potential for self-loathing, we historically and traditionally rally and multiply around the flag. The poet narrator travels around the world dismayed, steeped in misery yet offering a sly argument: some ofthe human race perhaps deserves destruction . Death is necessary, even poetic, so to speak; the empire is simultaneously doingsome good throughwholesale destruction and the enemyis always ipsofacto less than human—or so the poetic stepping-stones ofthe empire tell us. We are FALL 2002 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW * 105 nodding at a familiar face, reading a sort ofself-righteous drama ofthe soul that might cause a person to break down and yell, "Enough ofwar." The story begins with a question. Can you imagine such a scene? Imagine what it might be like to rummage through the detritus of graphic inhumanity and hysteria, longing for peace and democracy. These are the tangled sentiments of the duty-bound War Poets. Above all else, thewords ofthe soldier poets make beautiful and ghastlysounds; warriors are dying under slowly shifting stars. The crouching oftheir bodies, die pounding of the drum, the blind salute and die blind suffering—the war poets say they have seen horror and politics and they are not tongue-tied. Regardless of die film's static use ofghosdy tombstones and melodramatic readings, the poets diemselves look to the sky and speak. Some of their voices uphold die mighty tradition—this is always true. More importandy, odiers give us a living obituary ofwar. And this is enough to make the film itselfworth the trouble. ^ Linda Wagner-Martin, ed. A Historical Guide to ErnestHemingway. NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. 248p. MiMi R. Gladstein University of Texas at El Paso The goal ofthe Historical Guides series is to place American authors in the context ofwhat is called on the bookjacket the "vibrant relationship between literature and society." Most ofthe material in this volume accomplishes just that, reminding readers, both general and academic, ofthe contemporary issues, historical events, fashions, and reading materials that contributed to Hemingway's formation as man...