More and more I believe WWI was the epochal event of the 20th century with horrible effects lingering with us still…….hyperinflation,  communism, fascism, WWII , modernism and today’s “retail” decadence in the form of political and cultural liberalism. That may well be a lot of “historical license” but I do believe the dots connect.

The carnage and misplaced patriotism ( albeit mixed with incredible bravery and devotion) was and is stunning. Maybe a million men died at the Battle of Verdun yet it is thought the battle line moved some 18 inches net.

To possess these insights at a comfortable vantage point of 100 years plus is easy lifting; but the WWI poets ( as they are called) of this era figured all this out in what we call today real time and expressed their insights in beautiful and moving ways. 

Wilfred Owen , in his period classic “Disabled” evokes the thoughts of a (probably) despairing , limbless veteran as he sits in a wheel chair watching able youths frolic. 

   He sat in a wheeled chair , waiting for dark,
    And shivered in his ghastly suit of gray,
    Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
    Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
    Voices of play and pleasure after day,
    Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

     About this time Town used to swing so gay
     When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,
      And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,
      –In the old times , before he threw away his knees.
      Now he will never feel again how slim 
      Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands.
       All of them touch him like some queer disease……..

We in are in great debt to Owen as well Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon and others. It is doubtful that today’s wars ….or today’s culture…..will produce a single poem approximating the works of these men.