War Poetry and Politics of Representation: Expressionist Reading of Rupert Brooke’s Selective War Poems ‘1914 I: PEACE’, ‘1914 III: THE DEAD’, ‘1914 IV:THE DEAD’AND ‘1914 V: SOLDIER’

Abstract

This research explores expressionist streaks in Rupert Brooke’s selected war poems.
His war poetry employs different literary techniques like artistic volition, abstraction and
interior monologue in order to depict the reality of war. It calls for insight from the literary
experimentations which are evident in the works of Vincent Van Gogh, Edward Munich and
Strindberg. An expressionist artist does not focus on the objective reality. He seems to be more
interested in subjective responses such as emotions, feelings and intentions. War poets are
occupied with the question of representation, unlike other war poets, Rupert Brooke distorts
traditional thematic division of writing poetry. His war poetry depicts mental and emotional
distortion. This study provides a new insight to the readers to visualize Rupert Brooke’s War
Poetry in a new perspective.