Professor Lorna Hardwick (Open University) introduces the work of the Classics and Poetry Now network, before joining in conversation with Professor Stephen Harrison (University of Oxford), and Professor Elizabeth Vandiver (Whitman College). Together, they discuss the ways in which poets of the First World War, including Rupert Brooke, Charles Sorley, Wilfred Owen, and Isaac Rosenberg engaged with ancient Greece and Rome.

For those who would like to explore further, a more in-depth exploration of all that Lorna, Elizabeth, and Stephen discuss can be found in their co-authored book on the topic, Greek and Roman Antiquity in First World War Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Poems discussed:

Rupert Brooke, 'The Soldier'

Horace, Odes

Homer, Iliad

Homer, Odyssey

Wilfred Owen, 'Dulce Et Decorum Est', 'Strange Meeting' and 'Arms and the Boy'

Isaac Rosenberg, 'August 1914' and 'Dead Man's Dump'

Charles Sorley, ⁠'When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead'⁠

Artwork: © Thom Cuschieri