That's a good poem.
Rilke, who is tremendous, was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army in WW I, and more or less stopped writing, suffering from bouts of depression. He'd begun the Duino Elegies in 1912, and returned to them after 1918, publishing them and the Sonnets to Orpheus in 1922-1923. The war is a backdrop to this work, but it's hard to call him a war poet. Trakl and Benn I don't know well enough.
Apollinaire is very much a war poet, and unrivaled in his art. Valery and Claudel I think did not serve.
Last edited by John Isbell; 05-09-2017 at 04:18 AM.
Reason: other countries
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