Remember Belgium: Poetry as Propaganda During the First World War
submitted by Marvin's Underground Evening Lectures
on 10/06/18
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In 1914 the case of Gallant Little Belgium stirred political and artistic attention and emotion all over the world. Invaded by "the Huns," the Belgians found themselves at the heart of a propaganda battle in both warring and neutral nations. The writing of war poems became part of the war effort. American poets as well joined in. Kluge Fellow Geert Buelens address the use of poetry as propaganda, using WWI poems about Belgium by poets such as e.e. cummings, Witter Bynner, Ford Madox Ford and prominent Russian, Italian and Scandinavian poets. Kluge Fellow Geert Buelens is from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
