There's a cliché that comes to mind when the subject of women writers is brought up: "A woman's work is never done", to that age old phrase the words under appreciated should be added -- Women's poetry of World War I is no exception.
As WWI raged, women stepped up and became a mighty force, a ridged backbone during the war effort. This was dark time in history for every man, woman, and child all over the world. Poetry was an outlet for many of these people but for the purpose of this essay I'm going to focus on women's poetry.
During this War of Nations, women left their homes to go to work in factories or actually became part of the war effort -- flying planes, making weapons, nursing the wounded, actually active in the trenches.
The women, who worked in factories or were left back home to wait and wonder about their loved ones, often wrote of their experiences and feelings in prose or poetry. Some of the notable women poets were: Madeline Ida Bedford, Eva Dobell, Marian Allen, and Jessie Pope to name a few.
Madeline Ida Bedford wrote the poem Munition Wages. In this piece she wrote about the wages she made working in a munitions factory. When reading the poem, she seems to be bragging how life was better working in the factory but I read a bit of irony between the lines. Her last stanza sums the meaning up powerfully -- Worth while, for tomorrow if I'm blown to the sky, I'll have repaid my wages, in death – and pass by. www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/women/#wages
Not much information can be found about Madeline Ida Bedford as with many poets, she disappeared from sight.
Jessie Pope wrote the poem The Call. I found this piece to be wistful and sad. She's writing about the lads of war and wondering about the thankfulness of those affected and writes prayers for those fighting the war: Two. I ain't ashamed o' prayers, They're only wishes sent ter God Bits o' plants from bloody sod Trailing up His golden stairs.
Ninety seconds – Well, who cares! One – No fife, no blare, no drum – Over the Top – to Kingdom Come!
www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/women/#wages
She was an English poet and a pro-war propagandist who lived in Britain.
Eva Dobel was a British Nurse who was known to write poems about her patients. She wrote the poem Pluck; But when the dreaded moment's there He'll face us all, a soldier yet, Watch his bared wounds with unmoved air, (Though tell-tale lashes still are wet),
And smoke his Woodbine cigarette.
www.oldpoetry.com/oauthor/show/Eva_Dobell
Marian Allen wrote the poem The Wind on the Downs: Flying, ever flying overhead,
Here still I see your khaki figure pass, And when I leave the meadow, almost wait
That you should open first the wooden gate.
www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/tutorials/intro/women/#wages
In the above poem she wrote of the landscape and wrote with a naturalistic voice. Not much information can be found on this poet. She may have taken the way many poets of the time and disappeared.
As with all poets, these notable ladies wrote of pain, death, hopes, and dreams. They found poetry an escape mechanism from the bombs, and guns of reality. Even from the trenches of dirt and blood their muse aspired to live on page.
“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these”-- Emily Dickinson
During this War of Nations, women left their homes to go to work in factories or actually became part of the war effort -- flying planes, making weapons, nursing the wounded, actually active in the trenches.
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You have written in paragraph 1 (and repeated it in paragraph 4) that women acted as transport pilots in the First World War but I think you will find that that did not take place until the Second World War. I say this not to decry the woman's contribution but to plead for accuracy.
In the same way you open by quoting from Bedford's poem Munitions but this is more a piece about self-interest rather than commitment to a war effort. That commitment was purely secondary in this case, as Bedford clearly depicts. The poem is about the woman's fixation on what she can do with the money she earns and not any other purpose.
Your reference to the wings flying overhead in Allan's poem is surely to Angel's Wings and not aeroplane wings.
As for the quote from Dickinson I would have thought that the poets you mentioned were exhibiting emotion and sharing it rather than escaping from it.
Their were many women involved in that horrible war and much poetry written about it by women (including the 4 you mention) but for me this piece does not seem to do justice to either the women or the poetry.
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C. Fox Smith
Very interesting topic! There were many women who were involved in some supportive role in this war, as poets, as nurses, as ambulance drivers, as farmer's helpers. Cicely Fox Smith worked as a poet for PUNCH Magazine and published dozens of poems in support of the war efforts, usually from the point of view of the merchant seaman but also from the perspective of soldiers in the trenches and in the hospitals; about a dozen were republished in WAR VERSES, an anthology of World War 1 poetry published shortly after the end of that war. Over 550 of her poems are on file here at Oldpoetry. Here's a link to her page: http://oldpoetry.com/oauthor/show/Cicely_Fox_Smith
Another World War 1 literary figure would be Gertrude Stein who along with her companion Alice B. Toklas volunteered as an ambulance driver in Europe.
Charley Noble -
On Women Poets of WWII
I've read alot pertaining to the Great War and II. But never before have I got the chance to read poetry like this. From women who lived their lives in such struggle. I appreciated reading this.
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