"Recalling War" By Robert Graves

Robert Graves is a well-known 20th-century English poet and novelist and the writer of “Recalling War”. He has been considered a notable war poet of 20th-century English literature. In 1915, he joined the army and took a commission at the Battle of Loos.

He was seriously injured in the wars he enlisted. The First World War he witnessed affected him both physically and psychologically. After the war, he suffered from shell shock and also he was wounded. It means that the devastating scars of the war never went away from the body, mind, and soul of the poet. Therefore, war and its effects on society can be seen in Grave’s poems, including Recalling War written in 1938. The main theme of the poem is war its purpose is to make people remember those difficult times. Graves named this poem “Recalling War” because he did not want people to forget the war experiences and that Memorial Day. His feelings about the First World War were complex and crushed and it is possible to see it in Recalling War. The poem consists of five stanzas and each stanza has different themes. The first stanza is a reminder of the past war. The purpose of the second stanza is to raise awareness about war. The third stanza describes the war and its chaotic effects on society. The fourth one is about the post-war process and what war was. The last stanza is the recollection of war experiences. Graves deals with hopelessness, war experiences, fear, psychological and physical damages, pain, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Recalling War. He uses metaphors and imagery of war experiences and emphasizes that this physical and psychological pain that society went through should never be forgotten. By examining the poem stanza by stanza, it is possible to see the heart-wrenching war experiences that society went through. 

The poet starts the second stanza by asking what war was. For him, the memory of war is still fresh and memorable, and the scars of the war are still on his mind. For him, the war has spread like an “infection” and its effects continue. Even in the most beautiful May times, the destructive effect of the war is still active and knows no bounds and time. In the following lines, we can see how the war hit England, and how people were crushed and “oppressed” in those hard times. So society was on the line between death and life and even remembering all these was death itself.

In the fourth stanza, Graves talks about how painful the destruction the war caused. War devastated England and other nations and the earth became a battlefield, not a human habitat. Because of the war, all the happiness on earth was destroyed: art, faith, humanity, love, logic, hope, mind, bodies, science, history, and all the things human beings need. The devastating results of the war negatively affected all the physical, mental, material, and spiritual possessions of society. With “the duty to run mad”, Graves expresses the post-war psychological collapse and says that this war experience returns to people as trauma. 

The poet goes back to those painful moments and recalls the audience of the guns. He uses imagery and states that the war sounds as if it is unreal and childlike. He portrays the fall down and death of soldiers and the moment of the war. He reminds war with various descriptions to recreate the hard times of British society. Graves wants people not to forget and delete those caustic times and warns them: If these heart-wrenching tragedies are not remembered, their future will be full of despair. 

To sum up, the First World War not only destroyed society during wartime but also carried on its traces in people’s minds and souls after the war. As we can see in Recalling War, Graves handles the war, war experiences, and post-war process. The post-war traumas that he and other segments of society experienced are also clearly stated in the poem. The depression, troubles, and mental disorders went through by British society during and after the war show us that the war never really ended in people’s minds and souls. The war stands like an “inward scream” in a suppressed way. In short, this poem is written in order not to forget Memorial Day and shows us how painful marks the war left on society.