In: Psychology
Killing until the first World War was linked to heroism, honor,
duty etc. More people have died in war around the world than any
other reason. Nearly 10 million soldiers and 7 million common men
died during the first world war. If you recall the big wars in
history, including the mythical Trojan war, people have died for no
reason or someone's selfishness. The barbaric and animal instinct
of killing started to fade away with the pain and suffering the
wars brought after the first World War. Most of the war poets were
soldiers themselves who witnessed and were part of it.
The themes of the 20th century war poems changed dramatically by
leaving out the abstracts such as bravery and chivalry and focused
more on the following.
1. The aftermath of war - Most of the war left lots of people
killed, lots of people lose their loved ones, destroyed
civilizations and properties. The aftermath of the war brought sea
of change in the way people looked at we and the war poems
reflected them heavily.
Growing skepticism on religion - The increasing skepticism on
rigion was reflected in the war poems because religion was one
fundamental reason for most of the wars in history. So, war poets
were skeptical about religion and Gods and this resentment
reflected in the poems.
Psychological impact - People who lost loved one and properties
were affected by post traumatic stress disorder and they became
psychologically imbalanced people.
Lack of rationale behind wars - At one point of time after the
first World War, people, including soldiers lost their faith in
wars because they didn't find any rationale behind it. There was no
logic why they were fighting. They realised that they were fighting
for few selfish people against their brothers and sisters. They
were not able to fight because they started to sense a strong
feeling of friendship and brotherhood rather than hatred and
duty.