Teaching Poetry to Soldiers in a Post-Heroic Age

Abstract

In antiquity the epic poet's need for the soldier was reciprocated. Today, however, poets and soldiers operate in an altered relation. The association of poetry with often violent action is very much alive, yet the once intertwined existence of soldier and poet-an incorporation that perhaps reached its apex in the figure of the World War I soldier-poet has been replaced by diffidence, curiosity, and sometimes distrust. This climate of estrangement notwithstanding, poetry thrives at the United States Military Academy, where all plebes take a core curriculum literature class. Cadets emerge from this class with a recognition of the long-standing connections between literature and war; of the historical role of poetry in shaping culture, attitudes, and values; and of the ongoing imperative for military officers to be able to use language with precision. Moreover, by exercising the cadets' imaginations, the study of poetry helps to cultivate the powers of anticipation and invention these young men and women will need as military professionals in an unsettled, unsettling world.