This is where your extra credit lives

Most of you probably know Joyce Kilmer for his poem "Trees":


While poetry is often a beautiful expression of the human experience it can also convey the deep sadness and terror that accompanies war (see one of my earlier posts on poetry and war). When the United States went to war in 1917 Joyce Kilmer enlisted and found himself in the "Fighting 69th" (also a song covered by the Dropkick Murphys). During his service he wrote the poem "Rouge Bouquet" about the loss of young men during the war. Take a minute and peruse these poems, what images come to mind. What mood or tone does he write in?

If you contrast this poem with "Dulce et Decorum Est" by English poet Wilfred Owen you will find it much different in tone. Based on these two poems we can begin to see that there might be a difference in how the two men experienced the war--indeed Americans may have experienced the war much differently than Europeans did...

Unfortunately, Joyce Kilmer was unable to write his recollections of war for us. In 1918, while leading a scouting party, Kilmer was killed--another casualty of the Great War.

War is equally unmerciful in its treatment of poets, artists, workers, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters.