Literature and the Great War: Poetry vs. History?

The module will include literature (poetry and selected excerpts from fiction) and personal narratives to explore the issue of individual experience in WWI. Selections range from 1914 to 1930 to show change over time. How “true” is literature and how do historians use literary sources? How can historians use individual voices to tell a larger story about an important world event? One focus of this module is to emphasize the thick reading of a single source (Hemingway). Comparing this source with other primary sources will strengthen students’ analytic skills. Finally, working with multiple poems to identify the different ways the war affected people will build historical empathy and sharing their ideas will foster teamwork and increase class participation.