Factors Affecting Military Recruitment in Selected War Poems

Since the beginning of the twentieth century many poets, novelists and critics have written about war due to the First World War and the Second World War and their aftermaths, along with the wars that the British Empire was involved in in the colonized territories. Thus, much research has been conducted on war in English literature; however, little research has been done from a socio-economic and political perspective to point out core reasons behind enlistment in literary texts. To fill this gap, this paper selects several war poems, and critically analyses four pre-1914 and post-1914 war poems to explore the main reasons behind military recruitment in those times. The selected poems include: “Glory of Women” by Siegfried Sassoon, “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen, “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy, and “The Soldier” by Rupert Brook. The anti-war poems (“The Man He Killed”, “Disabled”, and “Glory of Woman”) are juxtaposed to the pro-war poem (“The Soldier”) to present a full image of war and examine all the factors that entice citizens to make such an irreversible and unwise decision to join the army. Analyzing these literary works help understanding the reality of war and the factors that push people into enlistment, and hence open a door for those academicians whose objectives are to participate in eradicating war and eliminating its push factors.