Poems for Company - December 23rd, 2024

“Why Serve?: First World War Poems of Internal Conflicts”: Young men in the 19 teens attempted to rationalize whether serving in the military during wartime was the right thing to do. What’s in it for them? Are they under peer pressure to enlist? What do they see as the likely outcome if they do enlist? Their answers are not predictable. W.B. Yeats, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” Edward Thomas, “As the Team’s Head Brass,” Wilfred Owen, “Disabled.” Various anthologies of First World War Poetry or devoted to work by the individual author include these poems. The show’s theme music...