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    What Are We Fighting For?: Poems About War
    What Are We Fighting For?: Poems About War
    What Are We Fighting For?: Poems About War
    Ebook141 pages37 minutes

    What Are We Fighting For?: Poems About War

    By Brian Moses and Roger Stevens

    ()

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    About this ebook

    What Are We Fighting For? is a poetry collection that explores the concept of war in a brilliantly accessible way for younger readers.

    Fascinating and moving in equal measure, there are poems about incredibly brave dogs, cats and pigeons; the Christmas truce of WWI when soldiers played football in No Man's Land; poems about rationing and what it was like to be an evacuee, poems about modern warfare and the reality of war today; plus lots of amazing true historical facts.

    This cross-curricular poetry book is a brilliant way to get young readers thinking about both the historical and philosophical aspects of war.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPan Macmillan
    Release dateJan 30, 2014
    ISBN9781447248620
    What Are We Fighting For?: Poems About War
    Author

    Brian Moses

    Brian Moses spends much of his time visiting schools, where he runs workshops sessions and performs his poetry. He has compiled numerous collections for Macmillan (total sales of over 750,000 copies), including The Works 2 and The Secret Lives of Teachers. He lives in Sussex with his wife and two daughters.

    Read more from Brian Moses

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      Book preview

      What Are We Fighting For? - Brian Moses

      Lines

      The First World War

      ‘Swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget’

      Siegfried Sassoon

      The Great War

      The First World War

      Was known as the Great War

      The War to End All Wars

      Because it was hard to imagine

      A darker war, a deadlier war

      A grimmer or a grimier war

      A scarier or a nastier war

      A better name would have been

      The Not-So-Great War

      The Miserable War

      The Senseless War

      Or

      The War That Did Not End All Wars

      Or

      The War That Taught Us Nothing

      Roger Stevens

      The Angels of Mons

      Did the British have divine protection

      in the first months of the war,

      and was something seen on the battlefield

      that had never been seen before?

      Was there really an army of angels

      when the British thought they were beat?

      Were there shining figures among the clouds

      that protected the British retreat?

      Was the German cavalry stopped in its tracks

      as the horses refused to advance?

      And was it a supernatural sight

      that gave the British a chance?

      Some say that it was spectral figures

      with flaming swords that lit the night.

      Others say bowmen fired arrows

      tipped with bright pulsating light.

      Whatever happened soldiers escaped

      when really they should have died.

      And the Angels of Mons showed British troops

      that Heaven could be on their side.

      Brian Moses

      Some British soldiers claimed to have seen visions in the sky while retreating after the Battle of Mons, August 1914.

      Smile Please

      I saw some old newsreels

      Of the Great War

      And I saw young men

      From the towns and villages of Britain

      Smiling for the cameras

      Smiles as wide as sunshine

      Like they were going on holiday

      But as the French winter set in

      And the mud in the trenches

      Got thicker and colder

      And more of their friends died

      From bullet wounds

      From explosions

      From poisonous gas

      The young men

      Wading up to their waists in freezing mud

      Tending the wounded and the dying

      Were no longer smiling for the cameras

      I saw some old newsreels

      Of the Great War

      And wondered

      What were we fighting for?

      Roger Stevens

      The General’s Message on the Morning of Battle

      It’s a beautiful day for a battle,

      the sun is shining bright,

      birds are high in the sky,

      it’s a lovely day for a fight.

      God is on our side, lads,

      he’s sure to help us win.

      We’re fighting the good fight,

      impatient to begin.

      The war will soon be over,

      the war will soon be won.

      We just need one more push to

      help us rout the Hun.

      Good luck to every one of you,

      play up and play the game,

      we’ve beaten them at football

      and again we’ll do the same.

      So come on lads, do your duty,

      it’s over the top you go.

      I’ll be with you there in spirit

      as you race to meet the foe.

      Our enemy is weakened,

      we’re sure to have them beat.

      But just in case we don’t,

      I’ll be leading the retreat!

      Brian Moses

      The Hun – First World War slang for German soldiers

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