For Empire, England's Boys, and the Pageant of War: Women's War Poetry in the Year of the Somme

Citation

Murdoch B (2009) For Empire, England's Boys, and the Pageant of War: Women's War Poetry in the Year of the Somme. English, 58 (220), pp. 29-53. https://doi.org/10.1093/english/efn039

Abstract
Three collections of war-poems by women writers (Margaret Sackville, Catherine Renshaw and Nadja Malacrida), published in the turning-point year 1916, raise questions about poetry by non-combatants who are also women. Sackville's pacifist writing has no overt patriotic elements, and although Renshaw retains some, the anti-war tone is becoming clearer; in spite of its title, Malacrida's now unknown collection focusses also upon the misery of the survivors. The ability to respond to the war is not gender- or experience-based, though some adopted voices are more appropriate to women. The collections share a sense of memorialization, in Sackville's case embracing all the dead, soldiers, non-combatants and refugees.

Journal
English: Volume 58, Issue 220