The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry

dc.contributor.advisorBirkinshaw, Philipen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMcArthur, Kathleen Maureenen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-03-13T14:01:58Z
dc.date.available2015-03-13T14:01:58Z
dc.date.issued1979en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: 344-355.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIn the last two decades there has been a growing interest in the English poetry of the First World War. One of the products of this interest has been a great deal of literary criticism culminating in three major studies: by John H. Johnston in 1964; Bernard Bergonzi in 1965; and John Silkin in 1972. All of these critics have felt the need to look back to the past to establish the literary forebears of the trench poets. Johnston believes that the roots of war poetry are in the Germanic and Greek epics; Bergonzi that they are in the anti-heroic poetry of the Elizabethans; and Silkin, in the liberal, humanitarian poetry of the Romantics. Their approaches are valuable in giving new insight into the poetry of the First World War and helping to place it in an historical perspective, but their surveys seem inadequate and even misleading. There is, for instance, no epic war poetry in English literature, and so Johnston's criticism of the trench poets for failing to maintain epic standards seems unjust; and while it is true that Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg's work proceeded from the same impulse that stimulated the humanitarian poetry of Shakespeare and the Romantic poets, neither Bergonzi nor Silkin recognizes that the dominant tradition in English war poetry, from the Battle of Maldon to the outbreak of the First World War, was an heroic one, and that the poets of the Great War wrote largely in reaction to this tradition.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMcArthur, K. M. (1979). <i>The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12592en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMcArthur, Kathleen Maureen. <i>"The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1979. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12592en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMcArthur, K. 1979. The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - McArthur, Kathleen Maureen AB - In the last two decades there has been a growing interest in the English poetry of the First World War. One of the products of this interest has been a great deal of literary criticism culminating in three major studies: by John H. Johnston in 1964; Bernard Bergonzi in 1965; and John Silkin in 1972. All of these critics have felt the need to look back to the past to establish the literary forebears of the trench poets. Johnston believes that the roots of war poetry are in the Germanic and Greek epics; Bergonzi that they are in the anti-heroic poetry of the Elizabethans; and Silkin, in the liberal, humanitarian poetry of the Romantics. Their approaches are valuable in giving new insight into the poetry of the First World War and helping to place it in an historical perspective, but their surveys seem inadequate and even misleading. There is, for instance, no epic war poetry in English literature, and so Johnston's criticism of the trench poets for failing to maintain epic standards seems unjust; and while it is true that Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg's work proceeded from the same impulse that stimulated the humanitarian poetry of Shakespeare and the Romantic poets, neither Bergonzi nor Silkin recognizes that the dominant tradition in English war poetry, from the Battle of Maldon to the outbreak of the First World War, was an heroic one, and that the poets of the Great War wrote largely in reaction to this tradition. DA - 1979 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1979 T1 - The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry TI - The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12592 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12592
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMcArthur KM. The collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetry. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of English Language and Literature, 1979 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12592en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of English Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherEnglish Literatureen_ZA
dc.titleThe collapse of the heroic tradition in 20th century war poetryen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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